Fishy Fish Fish
by RussM
Summary: The gang get jobs during their summer vacation but does this mean a break from mystery solving? They quickly find that keeping regular hours are the least of their problems as soon the very foundation of their town is under threat. With Velma missing and Fred & Daphne injured can Shaggy complete the most audacious summer assignment of his school career to save the day? S/V F/D.
1. School's Out For Summer

It was Friday evening and the best of all evenings, for today was the end of school and the beginning of the summer holidays. As they had done in years past the gang got together in their tree-house to celebrate and eat junk-food till they felt unwell. This year however was different, this summer they would be working. All of the gang had summer jobs and their 'endless summer' would be restricted to the weekends. When they complained about this a 'welcome to the real world' was the most sympathetic reply they received from their parents. But still it was Friday evening; the end of school and the weekend was ahead of them and were determined to get the most out of their free time.

"So who's doing what then?" said Fred clearing the table then putting down bottles of soda and some cups.

"Scoob and me are security guards at that big furniture store FlatterPack, like all we have to do is walk around and watch CCTV pictures all day." Shaggy placed the pizza boxes on the tables while Scooby dealt with the sides.

"Sweet I've got a job there as well," said Fred "I'm assembling the displays and helping them install kitchens and the like. Vel, Daph, what about you two?"

"Working for my mother in her doughnut shop, in the office you understand, they've already got enough meatball technologists at my dad's factory," said Velma putting several boxes of doughnuts on the table behind her next to the freezer-box full of ice-cream that Daphne had brought.

Daphne paused, she'd been dreading this "I'm a salad stylist…"

"A what?" said the rest of the gang.

"It's with a company that does food ads; they make the food look the best it can for the camera. I'm styling the salads."

"Man our two best girls getting such hot jobs," sighed Shaggy as he imagined himself on their place.

"Reah," Scooby felt a bit jealous.

"Mwarle mwumpf ommmnon," said Velma.

"What?" said Shaggy.

"Goolpph mouoomf," said Daphne.

"Not only have they got such 'hot jobs', they've also eaten more pizza than you," said Fred.

"Nooooo!" Shaggy's plaintive cry echoed around the neighbourhood.

In another part of town a brother and sister had just finished moving into their new home. It was a large slightly dilapidated house on an otherwise vacant lot. They had few domestic possessions which the removal crew quickly moved inside; most of time was spent moving all the kitchen equipment into the basement. A few floor-to-ceiling pipes were the only feature in the otherwise vacant space. In a week or so other members of their family would join them but for now they were on their own but they had more than enough jobs to do to keep them occupied till then. Once all was done they sat down to eat dinner, their first taste of Coolsville's local cuisine. After they had finished the sister went to the window and looked out at their new home. They were the vanguard of a new way, a new way for a new world as their mother had said just before she waved them off.

Also in the room was a long dining table, at one end sat an empty jug of coffee, two half-full coffee cups, and dirty plates. Between the plates was an open CoolBalls take-away box and an empty bag of 'Dinkley's Dunkers' pastries.

"Soon dear brother this town will be eating out of our hands, once we find the secret nobody will be able to resist," the young woman looked out from the window; in the distance she could see a sign advertising Dinkley's CoolBalls.

At the other end of the table sat her brother, he was filling a tool-box which sat on the table in front of him. Inside were different pliers, a rasp, screwdrivers, a hammer, alligator clamps, wire wool, a small hand-drill, several rolls of black duct-tape and many cable-ties. He picked up a rectangular box and checked inside; it contained a soldering iron run by small gas cylinders. He placed that in the box along with a bag of surgical gloves. Next to the box was a rolled up tube of cloth. He unrolled it, inside were scalpels of various kinds, each blade as sharp as a new razor, assorted metal probes, some long needles, a pair of scissors and a wire hoop. He rolled up the bundle then placed it inside; the last thing to go in was a spirit burner. He closed up the box and looked at his sister.

"Yes Sonia, we will find their secrets, they will tell us everything, for I know how to make them tell all." He stood up to join his sister, his hand uncovered a copy of the Coolsville Reporter, it was open on an article about that gang, a thick dark ring surrounded Velma's photograph.


	2. A Rumbly in their Tumbly

Most places around the world have their local foods and Coolsville was no exception. Their local food of choice was the meatball and the most popular brand was CoolBalls, run by the Dinkley family since the early 1940's; in the 1960's they had branched out into pastries with the launch of 'Dinkley's Dunkers' coffee and doughnut shops. The business had seen its ups and downs but CoolBalls had remained loyal to Coolsville and Coolsville had remained loyal to CoolBalls. Meatballs and doughnuts were in the Dinkley's blood declared Mr Dinkley to anybody who would listen, Velma insisted it was just plain old B+ in hers as her interests lay more in mysteries than marinades but despite her protestations she found herself working Saturday morning, behind the counter of all places. Working behind the till meant she had to wear the uniform. It had taken her mother half an hour to tempt a reluctant Velma out of the restroom; finally she succeeded by laying a trail of mystery themed novels from the restroom door to the till. Velma looked out of the window at the bright sunny day she was missing; there was only one thing that could make this day worse.

"Like let's say hi to Velma, she must be really bummed out that she had to work today," said Shaggy as they walked down the street to where the main Dinkley's Dunkers shop was. They went inside and were surprised to see Velma working behind the counter rather than in the office.

"Nobody says anything and nobody gets hurt," said Velma looking at the rest of the gang as they walked up to the counter "I'm only wearing this as we're short staffed today." Her regular outfit having been replaced by a white tailored 'Dinkley's Dunkers' t-shirt and a pair of candy-pink slacks.

"What would you like?" said Velma looking at Shaggy.

Shaggy didn't say anything, he just stared at Velma. He'd heard rumours that it was possible for her to wear clothes other that the regular sweater/skirt combo but hadn't thought he'd ever see it in his lifetime.

"Four coffees and a large mixed selection box Vel, we'll eat in so we can chat with you," said Fred while Shaggy continued to stare.

If Shaggy's behaviour was lost on Fred and Scooby it didn't go unnoticed by Daphne and especially Velma. She was keenly aware that Shaggy was looking at her, looking. Not just the usual pointing eyes in her direction but directly at her. There was something in his gaze which made her feel unsettled but not in a creepy way. Velma desperately hunted for a better adjective, naughty… no, noticeable… better. Desirable? Velma's face began to grow warm; she suddenly became very interested in organising some paper napkins, all the while giving Shaggy furtive glances and the odd shy smile.

Shaggy managed to make his way to the table without any conscious involvement of his brain which was entirely fixated on Velma and despite her distracted state Velma succeeded in completing their order. Velma first carried over a tray with the coffee and cups next a box full of doughnuts. Shaggy was quiet when Velma brought the coffee over, even quieter when she brought the doughnuts.

"Still with us Shag?" said Daphne.

"Emm, yeah, just emm, just like looking." Shaggy couldn't take his eyes off Velma as she walked back to the counter; the uniform seemed to accentuate her curves. A uniform which had up till now only been associated with sugary treats now began to associate itself with a different kind of treat all together.

"You want frosting with that?" said Daphne mischievously, Velma was over moments later patting Shaggy on the back as he coughed and spluttered. When his coughing fit had passed Velma rested hands on his shoulders gently stroking his back with her thumbs. Fred, Daphne and Scooby chatted while Shaggy and Velma stayed in a little world of their own.

Shaggy's mind began to travel through previously unfrequented parts of his subconscious clutching the image of Velma in her 'Dinkley's Dinkers' uniform. The destination was a corridor full of picture frames with a number underneath, the numbers decreased as he walked down. Finally he reached the end and an ornate gilded picture frame with the number 1 underneath. He placed Velma's image in the frame and stood back to admire his work. The corridor was filled with a warm orange-red glow which slowly began to light up the rest of his brain.

At dinner that evening Velma could tell something was up, nothing bad, no one had used her middle name, but that she was soon to be on the receiving end of some big announcement from her father so prepared to put her brain into neutral. That's if he could get a word in edgeways as her mother kept asking questions about how her day at work had been and what had gone on, to whit what had gone one between her and Shaggy and was that why she'd had an ear-to-ear grin for the rest of the day. Finally her mother stopped to eat and her father saw his opportunity.

"Velma, remember you suggested that we open up stands in some of the out-of-town retail stores," Velma nodded "well we're opening a concession in FlatterPack this Monday to sell some of our most popular products."

"Can I help?" said Velma; it was her idea after all so she'd better show willing.

"Help? I want you to run it. It is a safe environment to put your business skills to use."

"It will also help you with your people skills," said her mother.

"How exactly mother?"

"Well you don't really have any do you dear," replied her mother not unkindly.

"Thanks, and on that bombshell I'll go and hang out with the gang and practice on them," said Velma collecting her dishes and putting them in the dishwasher.

"You go and have fun and say hello to Shaggy, he's such a nice young man isn't he? I hear he works at Flatterpack too, I expect you get to see him a lot more. Which will be nice for you both won't it dear?"

"Yes mother," mumbled Velma feeling her face redden; she exchanged glances with her father, that was her mother, as subtle as a brick through a window.

The FlatterPack concession duly opened on Monday with Velma at the helm and soon it was breaking all sales records, thanks mostly to Shaggy and Scooby. Even Velma began to warm to the work, secretly she had to admit that her people skills did need a bit of work but mostly it was because she could engage in some of her favourite pastimes, people watching and looking for patterns in the ebb and flow of people moving through the store. These were two things she found fascinating plus both skills were useful in mystery solving. Then there was her latest favourite pastimes, being with Shaggy, accidentally bumping into Shaggy, him accidentally bumping into her and all things generally Shaggy related. I've got a crush on Shaggy so sue me already she thought after receiving some inquisitive text messages from Daphne; it was her crush and hers alone. It might lead somewhere, it might not; but for now she was enjoying it and determined to keep Daphne getting too excited about it and ruin everything.

Shaggy himself became more dutiful, preferring to walk the store than just watch monitors; the Dinkley's Dunkers stall soon being the best guarded place in the whole state. Although he felt it a bit creepy about it he did keep a CCTV camera pointed at the stall at all times. It was nice to glance up at a monitor and see that Velma was alright. He didn't let his infatuation get in the way of doing his job, It was important to keep the store safe, as that way Velma would be safe. His boss didn't mind too much, he had a son slightly older than Shaggy and had seen him going through the same sort of thing.

A couple of weeks into her stint at the stall Velma became aware that there was a new concession about to open up near hers. Apparently it would be serving traditional foods from the FlatterPack's home country. She wasn't too bothered with that, there were more than enough people to go around and it would be interesting to taste food from another part of the world. The stall duly arrived and was set up by Fred so when Shaggy was round it was just like the regular holidays. When she found out the name, HerringBall, she wasn't too happy but one of the products on the stall menu did look like a ball so… she'd leave that to the company lawyers.

The stall opened the day after it was completed, Velma came into work that morning to find two people, one male the other female, making the final preparations ready to open. Competitors they may be but that was no reason not to be civil and polite, time for some advanced social skills practice.

"Hello, I'm Velma, Velma Dinkley I work the Dinkley's Dunkers' stall," she held out her hand.

"Sonia, Sonia Nordskov and this is my brother Rudi." Sonia shook Velma warmly by the hand as did her brother; they shared a knowing glance with each other then turned their attention back to Velma.


	3. New Fishes on the Block

"We've come to get away from the family feuds about the business. My parents have longed to explore new markets for our foods but 'the traditions' say otherwise." Velma nodded allowing her new acquaintance to talk more "The arguments grew too much so we finally came here, new markets for the new world."

"That's brave of you, this is your first venture?"

"No, there's a large ex-pat community in Main and New Hampshire so we have our core business there serving up the traditional foods and we're here to begin the product expansion and to see what works with the American public."

"Sounds like a good strategy, what's the product."

"Fermented herring."

"O-K."

"It's an acquired taste; I've heard that Americans like sweet things so we've got a 'frosted with sprinkles range.' Oh look at the time; it is almost time for the store to open," said Rudi collecting his things.

"Oh good I will see you later Rudi. Would you like a sample Velma?" Sonia opened a container to reveal a rolled up herring covered in chocolate frosting.

"Emmm, quite, later perhaps, excuse me I, I, em need to get ready for work…" Velma grabbed her bag and rushed off, she managed to get to the restroom just in time. After a couple of minutes Velma had regained control of her innards and got changed for work.

As Velma walked out of the restroom the first visitors to the store had begun to come in, much to her amazement she saw a face she thought she'd never see again anytime soon.

"Jinkies, speaking of herring its Red Herring," whispered Velma under her breath as she walked towards the stall "Hey Red, Red, over here!"

"Dinks? I didn't expect to see you here."

"Summer job working for my mother. What are you doing back in Coolsville?"

"Visiting family, my folks are here to pick up some stuff, so how you been?"

"Not bad…"

They talked while walked back to the stall, their earlier differences having been put behind them years ago. A few minutes later HerringBall opened.

"Perhaps Coolsville isn't ready for fermented herring with chocolate frosting," said Velma switching on the fan next to her till then pointing it in the direction of the herring stall.

"Gaghk right again Dinks," said Red breathing shallow "I'll have some doughnuts to go."

"Sure thing Red, I'll have a positive pressure containment system for the food set-up by tomorrow, the air'll go through activated carbon filters to remove the smell."

"Even serving doughnuts you're still a genius. See you around Dinks, I'll drop you an email when I get back home."

"Look forward to it, have a good day."

Velma watched as he walked away towards his family till she was distracted by a familiar figure doing the first of his many morning rounds. Red rounded a corner and paused, he took out his mobile phone

"Hey guys, I just bumped into an old friend… no Dinks, Dinkley, Velma Dinkley you cloth-eared… yeah that Velma, she's working at that FlatterPack store in Coolsville during summer break. You guys are back in town soon so why don't you pay her a little social call, something to show we haven't forgotten her." With that he finished the call and re-joined his parents.

After her Shaggy filled day Velma arrived home carrying a number of odour prevention insoles, she immediately had a shower to remove any lingering fish odour then went into the basement and set to work making the positive pressure system.

"Velma, dinner will be soon. What are you doing?" asked her father.

Velma explained what had happened during the day with the new stall and why there weren't enough adjectives to describe the smell.

"Well I'll speak to the lawyers but I don't think people will be confused by the product."

"That's for sure; please don't tell me we're having fish tonight."

"Nope, vegetable pie. We'll have some guests tomorrow there's a visiting trade delegation from northern Europe in town for a week or so and a few are coming here, one of them has a daughter a little older than you and I thought it might be nice for you and Angelina…"

"Dad," said Velma with a degree of exasperation.

"She's a police cadet."

"Oh that's different." Mysteries, investigation, police procedure!

The next day wasn't as bad as Velma had feared; as soon as possible the pair made their escape to Velma's room, Angelina was quite sociable and was willing to talk about what she did as a cadet while she took a polite interest in the gang's mystery solving exploits. Either way if was preferable to the business conversations going on downstairs. Before they knew it time was up and an order barked upstairs for Angelina to come down, the delegation were getting ready to leave and they were almost a minute late according to the voice.

"Jinkies is he always like this?" said Velma.

"Yes, they call him Mr Rush, that's rusa in Swedish. Of course we have other names for him but that's the polite one."

"Why? Aside from being impatient…"

"And pompous, bossy, obsessed with traditions and intolerant of those who don't appreciate 'the old ways'. People only put up with him as he's a good organiser and is good at what he does."

"What does he do?"

"A children's dentist if you can believe it."

"Nope not seeing it."

"True he's my dentist, good with children lousy with adults. Need to be going thank you for your time."

Velma shook her head and went to her computer to add Angelina to her social network. 'Yay' she mouthed to herself, Angelina had just accepted her friend request. Velma was soon lost in her on-line world; maths societies, computer clues and role-playing game clubs. She never played the games herself but loved providing the mythology and back-stories for other people's campaigns. Velma sighed, her social skills were so much better when people weren't directly involved. She chatted on-line with Fred, Shaggy and Daphne arranging to get together after work for a picnic. By the looks of things Daphne was trying to peer round to see what was on Velma's chat window with Shaggy.

The next day the gang met up for their picnic which thankfully remained free of mysteries as they all had an early start the next day. When they were finished Daphne and Fred threw the rubbish in the bins while Shaggy and Velma collected the picnic things and put them into the van then got into the back themselves while Scooby remained outside.

"How did your dinner party go yesterday? Vel" said Daphne.

"Not as bad as it could have been, you boys should have sent them a thank-you note."

"Why?" said Fred.

"Well FlatterPack came from there so they gave you boys a job for the summer," said Velma.

"What are they doing here?" said Shaggy.

"Well I got a copy of their inventory for the week," said Velma pulling a piece of neatly folded paper out of her pocket. Shaggy moved to sit next to her to read, Velma shuffled closer.

"A seminar on Trans-Atlantic dental techniques?"

At that Shaggy began to sway from side-to-side and pretend to be faint. He took the paper from Velma's hand, made a paper airplane out of it and threw it out of the van where it was caught by Fred.

"How about 'zoning of light industries: a comparison on local government economic policies,'" called Fred.

Shaggy's hands went to his head. "Too dull! The words in my brain, too dull!"" he began to sway more and more, he began to roll his head and make strange faces "Must, call, meeting," he moaned.

"Oh no we're losing him!" giggled Velma.

His swaying to-and-fro and rolling of his head caused him to loose balance and fall into Velma's arms.

"Oofff!" exclaimed Velma as she caught his weight, she gently laid him down in the back of the van and proceeded to pretend to do CPR but on his stomach.

"Stomach?" said Daphne.

"This is Shaggy we're dealing with," said Fred, Daphne nodded in understanding.

"Oh right, how about this one 'Stationary supply mutual trade exchange negotiations,'" said Daphne.

Shaggy waved his arms and legs in the air.

Velma put an ear to his stomach. "I've got a gurgle, there's still hope!"

"The role of semi-permeable pavement in local ground-water management." said Daphne leaning over Fred.

"He's mumbling about stationary supplies!" Velma held her ear near his mouth.

"He's fading fast, do something Vel!" said Fred.

Shaggy's arms and legs went rigid as Velma pressed her lips on his. In the merriment Velma had got carried away and begun mouth-to-mouth. Both froze, unsure of what to do next, unusual sensations tingled through their bodies as their lips remained joined. They parted, eyes looking everywhere but at each other. When they finally emerged from the back of the van Daphne looked fit to burst and gave them such a stare as to cause both to turn even redder than they already were. Daphne couldn't wait to get home; she'd got one hot update for her diary.

The next morning it was Daphne who was in the spotlight. A flashgun fired filling the room with light, she blinked away the spots then bent over slightly.

"Oh yeah, work it baby work it!"

She moved around and leant in from another angle.

"Come on, give it, you know you want to!"

"Honestly Grant," said Daphne.

"No, don't stop that's it more, reveal more, give in to the camera!"

"How's the shoot going?" Daphne and Grant turned round to see the Managing Director standing in at the door.

"Boss what Daphne can't make shredded beetroot do isn't worth knowing," said Grant as he changed the lens on the camera. The MD went to the computer and looked at the images from the shoot so far.

"That true. Now Daphne, the creative team have been looking at your work and as a result we'd like to promote you to Assistant Meal Beautician. From now on you'll be working on all kind of meals and food products. When you're done here Daphne I'd like a quick word."

In the office after the obligatory congratulations on her promotions and a brief discussion of her new role the conversation became more awkward.

"I understand that you are good friends with the Dinkley's daughter."

"Velma, yes why?"

"Well we've been trying to get a contract with CoolBalls for years but they always say the product is what it is."

"That's the Dinkleys for you. But I'm not going to pester Velma into doing anything."

"No, what I'd like is for you to speak to our marketing people, what makes the DInkleys tick…" he must have seen Daphne expression "I know, I know many have tried but you've been friends with her for years so you must have some inkling of what thoughts occupies the mind behind those glasses."

"Shaggy mostly,"

"What?"

"Sorry, I meant, it's, it's quite simple really there has to be a logical and rational reason to do something. So you need to couch it in those terms; this is the situation, this is what you need to do and why. I'd guess Marketing left off the why."

"Like a loss of market share to a new competitor, so you use our services to enhance the image of the product to remind people of the product?"

"Well yes I guess so."

"Thanks, I'll think it over. You'd better be getting on, your first project in your new role. Grant needs you to help with a new product launch. He's in the old darkroom."

"Why there?"

"It has a fume hood. Herring gets very smelly under lights, especially fermented herring."

Fermented herring, now where have I heard of that before? She thought to herself as she walked to the darkroom.

The MD paced the room, Daphne had given a strategy but he needed more. He turned to his ever present companions.

"What should I do? What could cause them to seek our services?"

There was no reply, there didn't need to be, he could read the answer in their eyes. He went and sat next to them.

"I don't know yet but I know you know," he began to speak in more babyish tones "I know you know, so please do tell, I've got some extra treats if you do." He looked at them, ideas began to form in his head "Yes, something spectacular, something to get their attention and shake them to the core, we're close, so close. Oh you're all so clever…" as he spoke he picked up a small plastic bottle and unscrewed the lid and took out a few flakes from within "treat time!"

Thelma, the company secretary looked on with a mixture of sympathy and pity, the MD was sitting next to the fish tank in his office having a meeting with the fish again. A group of people walked through the door to her office for a planned meeting.

"Meetings been pushed back, he's speaking to the fish again," she whispered and the people creep away as quietly as they can.

"Genius! That's it!" he shouted as fish-flakes went flying about the office.

He stuck his head out of the door and called excitedly to the secretary "Thelma, ask Toby and Fran to come to my office please, oh and tell them they mustn't speak a word to anyone about this, especially Daphne."

Near midnight in the security room of the CoolBall factory the security guards stared open mouthed at what they were seeing on the security monitors. Shadows appeared at the window; scaled, webbed hands pressed against the glass, the outlines of fins could be seen. Wet slapping sounds grew louder as the creatures made their way to the security room door. A guard's hand moved towards the silent alarm as the door handle began to turn.


	4. CHCL3

Velma put her head under the pillow, pressed it into her ears and tried to go back to sleep. The phone wouldn't stop ringing, then there was the raised the voices, cars pulling up outside and doors slamming. Who did her parents think they were teenagers? Didn't people realise she had to go to work in the morning! There came a gentle taping on the door and her mother came in.

"Velma dear are you awake?"

"I am now, what's all the kerfuffle?"

"Your father needs you to come to the factory, something happened."

"What kind of something?" Velma sat up in bed and reached for her glasses.

"It seems it is now being haunted by giant humanoid fish creatures."

"Oh _that_ kind of something."

Velma sat in the security office, drinking coffee while she listened to the testimony of the guards, drank coffee while watching the video tapes and drank coffee, it was way too A.M. for her liking. The descriptions of the creatures reminded her of a cheap sci-fi movie from the 60's. Overall humanoid in shape with large bulbous eyes on the side of their heads with a wide diamond shaped mouth full of long thin teeth, a spiny dorsal fin ran from the top of its head down to the small of its back tapering slightly as it went. They had long tails which reached down to the floor and ended in a further fin. They had some form of gill slits or webbing extending from near their eyes to their pectoral fins or whatever passed for an arm. Both their arms and legs ended in webbed, clawed appendages which from what she could see functioned reasonably well as hands and feet though not quite as well as they had trouble with fine movement and tended to walk with a fast shuffling gait. They'd been moaning something in an alien tongue but nobody had been able to make it out clearly enough to say what it is. They had left a series of scratch mark on doors and walls which appeared to be writing of some kind. Velma knew she knew what language was but it was too early for deep thinking.

She sat back, drank another mug of coffee and began to think about what she'd seen. It was a bit early for silly season to begin at the local college so she could rule that out, it wasn't a daft publicity stunt either as she'd know; she'd not long had her birthday so it wasn't that.

"What do you think Velma?" said Michael the senior security guard.

"Inallprobabilityitispeopledressedupasfishforsomes tragereasoncanIhavesomemorecoffeeplease?"

"I think you've already had enough coffee to last you the whole day," said her father as he took the mug from her hands.

As Velma walked to her car she reasoned that all the coffee she'd drunk so far meant she'd be wide awake for work despite her early start to the day; there was one item of business for today, talk to Shaggy about yesterday.

"Yesterday?" said Velma as she stroked Scooby's head.

"So, em about yesterday?" said Shaggy.

"Yes, I'm…" Velma was going to say she was sorry, she wasn't but she felt some kind of explanation was in order "I got carried away which resulted in our unplanned osculation."

"Like shush Vel we didn't do any kinky like that!" Shaggy gestured with his hands for her to quieten down.

Velma gave a chuckle, the ice broken she moved close to him and placed her hand on his arm "No silly it's the scientific term for kissing."

"Ohhhhh right, I knew that," Scooby rolled his eyes, Shaggy smiled "It was nice."

"Nice?" said Velma.

"Like, _very_ nice, made me go all tingly inside."

"Yes, emm, it did me too." Velma suddenly felt very warm.

"Perhaps, like perhaps we could try it again sometime?" Shaggy moved closer and dipped his head.

"Indeed, I hear practice makes perfect." Velma looked up and closed her eyes as she went up on tiptoes.

They had a few more practice osculations throughout the day just to see if the effect was the same. Science, Velma insisted, required repeated testing of the result.

Even before clocks were invented people looked at the places on the wall where clocks would one day hang to see how long it was before the end of that days toil. Daphne found herself more and more looking forward to the end of the day, not because she didn't like her job, but it meant Fred would be there to pick her up. Fred drummed his fingers on the steering wheel in time to the music on the radio. Things were getting odd with the gang, Shaggy and Velma's tentative relationship seemed to have triggered something between him and Daphne. They were certainly closer than they were a few weeks ago, he'd felt unexpectedly nervous asking Daphne if she'd like to be collected from work while Daphne's reaction was to become flustered and embarrassed. The door opened and Daphne bounced inside sitting as close to him as she could.

"Hey Daph, want to look at what I saw at work today?" Fred took his phone out of his pocket.

"What now, a new screwdriver? Shiny angle brackets?" she teased, Fred briefly flashed his phone at her "Give me that phone now!" Daphne snatched the phone from Fred's hand. On the screen was a photograph of Shaggy and Velma having lunch together, so far so normal, but what was the object of Daphne's attention was that Shaggy was clearly feeding Velma a forkful of his food. HIS FOOD! Daphne grabbed the biggest magnifying glass she could find in the glove compartment and studied the image. Velma's eyes were closed, mouth open with signs of a smile and … yes a faint blush on her face. What see could see of Shaggy's face was a mask of concentration and nervousness and, there was something in his eyes, total focus on Velma. On reflection it was a good thing as she was allergic to pointy metal objects being jabbed in her face. Daphne looked up at Fred.

"We all know they've been having lunch together since they started but lately," Fred's eyes looked at the phone. Daphne checked, there were some more photographs, each more incriminating than the last. There was Shaggy brushing hair from her face; Velma sitting next to him, resting her head of his shoulder, sitting at lunch their hands touching across the table while the final one Shaggy standing behind Velma with his hands round her waist, her head was tilted back looking up at him while he looked down at her, there was no mistaking the look on either face. Daphne smiled to herself and recalled the earlier incident between them in the van _hey Vel, your Freudian slip is showing_. Velma was coming round tonight to help her sort out some things; a little preparation and Velma would spill the beans without thinking about it. She arched her back slightly encouraging Fred to slip his hand round her waist as he 'helped' her with her seatbelt.

Daphne had invited Velma over that evening ostensibly to help sort through some old toys to go to a charity sale. Velma's suspicions were raised as soon as she opened the door, Daphne's face had 'ulterior motive' written all over it. Things proceeded innocently enough and they made good progress until Daphne found some dolls, one of which was a 'Ken' doll.

"If you were to design your own 'Ken' what would he look like?" Daphne wiggled the doll as she spoke.

"Why, would yours wear an ascot?"

"What! Possibly, maybe." Daphne was caught off guard by Velma's counterattack but quickly recovered "I asked first so I'm not saying till you do."

"Well, I do like boys who are tall," said Velma quietly after a brief pause. Velma's revelation didn't help much; most of the human population was taller than her, it was time to cut to the chase before Velma became too suspicious and clam up.

"But what about facial hair like a goatee?"

Velma's face reddened as she nodded, _I'll take that as a huge Shaggy sized yes _thought Daphne.

"Which means you like Shaggy! Come on Vel you can't deny it I saw you two kiss!" Daphne thought she had won but Velma had come prepared.

"We didn't kiss we osculated."

"Oscillated?"

"Osculated!"

"Os-cu-la-ted."

"Correct for ten points. We practiced osculating again this morning." _and at lunch time and when we left work_ Velma looked down at a magazine as she spoke to hide her reddening face.

"Whatever floats your boat Vel," Daphne sounded a little disappointed, there was the sound of a car horn Daphne bounced over her bed and looked out of the window "oh your mom's here, see you tomorrow." The pair hugged and Velma quickly departed.

"Hmmm osculated, I wonder…" Daphne tapped her chin then looked up the word in a dictionary, her jaw dropped "Velma!" but it was too late Velma had already made her escape.

"Just you wait till tomorrow Vel, no mercy!" said Daphne flopping onto her bed.

The next morning Velma arrived early at work to change the air filtration system and to install some new signs for the stall which would give her time to get ready for the Shaggy part of her day. She stopped dead in her tracks, her stall had been vandalised!

"Jinkies, what on earth happened here?"

She carefully walked over and surveyed the damage, napkins strewn about the floor, signs torn down and the cabinet had kick-marks in the doors and side. At first glance it wasn't as bad as it appeared, more mess than anything but she sent a text message and photo of the scene to head office; she'd want maintenance to check the stall over before serving any hot food. That done she set about tidying up. As she did she became aware that there was a faint fishy smell on things, the paper napkins looked like they'd somehow got wet and there claw marks on one of the signs that had been thrown to the floor. Then there was…

"Hmmm glowing green marks." There were a few glowing marks on the floor leading to the HerringBall stall. That stall was mostly undamaged though she did find some markings, which reminded her of runes, written where only the stallholder could see them. Velma stood up, those markings were identical to those found in the factory this morning. She carefully looked around using her ever-present magnifying glass, there was a faint trail leading away from the stall. On closer inspection she could make out the outline of webbed feet heading both to and from the stall.

She followed the prints, bent over still looking through her magnifying glass. There were a few clear prints, they are clearly webbed, scaly feet of some kind, vaguely similar to those she'd seen earlier that morning. The prints were walking away from the HerringBall stall; she'd have a few choice words with that Sonia character before the store opened. From the marks she could tell that whoever it was had tried to stay out of sight in the shadows. Even when closed the store wasn't deserted; there was security, the cleaning crews and the staff who set-up new displays and tided-up the place ready for the next day. Finally they led to a door in a little used part of the building, she'd seen it a dozen of times before but had been more focused on 'accidentally' bumping into Shaggy so never paid it much heed. The door was stiff but she finally managed to get it opened. It revealed a stairwell leading into a poorly lit corridor. Carefully she crept down the stairs, along a short corridor and into a small dimly-lit room, all she could find was a glass bottle resting on a crate.

"Ohhh what have we here?" she held up the bottle but there was no label on it, she unscrewed the top and gently wafted the fumes forwards her, then immediately screwed the the top back on tight and put the bottle down "An empty bottle of chloroform? Hmm don't see those every day, heh better make sure Daph doesn't come down here," Velma said to herself. She stood up to see what else was room, _last stop dead-endsville, nothing else here apart from the crate and that chloroform soaked cloth rapidly approaching my face oh jink…_ "Helmh! Mmmmpfh!" Within minutes Velma's world was as dark as the rest of the basement.


	5. Fish Take Away

When Shaggy arrived at the CoolBall stand there was a maintenance crew working on it but no Velma. He tried to think of the various reasons why Velma wasn't there, perhaps she was running late or doing 'girl stuff' in the restroom? Despite her reputation as a super-organised braniac she did oversleep, make mistakes and forget things, he knew her human side more than most. He'd been hoping to ask her round to his place for dinner his weekend and practice some more osculations before they started work, and get a snack. He looked at his watch; it was time to get going so went to the Herring stall. There was a guy on the stall this morning, he said that his sister had an appointment but would be back before lunch. Shaggy got some food and walked to start his shift eating as he went. The chocolate frosted herring with vanilla custard filling wasn't the same. As he walked past the empty CoolBall stall it was more that his stomach that was empty.

Velma began to stir, she was cold, her arms and legs were stiff and hard to move.

_Oh man I haven't felt this ill since that accident in chemistry class… chloroform! _

The memory hit her hard; unseen hands gripping her limbs, the desperate struggles, the suffocating sickly smell filling her lungs then finally the horrible feeling of slowly slipping away. She resisted the urge to move or make any noise, she needed to find out as much information as she could before her captors realised she was awake. Carefully and methodically she began to take stock of her situation. She was lying face down on the floor, it was cold and hard but was there any other kind? There was a loose fitting hood over her head, made of some kind of canvas or sacking, and secured snugly around her neck. She wasn't wearing her glasses which she found most unsettling, that she couldn't see with the hood on didn't matter, she felt quite vulnerable without her glasses. It was some comfort that she was ungagged which was great from a breathing point of view but meant she was out of earshot of any help. The floor was slightly rough with a gritty feel – old concrete most likely. Her hands were in front of her, fastened round a pipe by a pair of handcuffs. The pipe was about a foot in diameter and made of metal, possibly cast iron by the feel of it. She could feel an uncomfortable tightness round each ankle and a small amount of movement confirmed that they were also joined by handcuffs. Velma focused on controlling her breathing and getting her heart-rate down. Finally she could hear voices nearby, at least three people talking quietly some distance away sp

eaking in heavily accented voices.

Velma carefully felt the handcuffs, teasing out what little information she could from what she could feel. The cuffs were fitted tightly round her wrists and ankles, another notch and they be cutting into her skin, no chance of wriggling her hands through. But if she could determine the make then she'd have a better chance of knowing how best to pick them. If her captors didn't know she was awake then there was a chance of escaping unnoticed, it had worked for Daphne before so why not her.

_Hmmm from the bezel on the edge and the general finish I'd say they're made by Jones and Eastern, the Rolls-Royce of restraints; now count the indentations… that make them a model JF-1218, damn just my size. By implication I've probably got a set of JM-1218's on my ankles, no expense spared here I __**am**__ a lucky girl._

She slowly froze as she heard movement next to her.

"Is she awake?" the voice was muffled, like they were eating something.

"Not yet but she will be soon, at least she's stopped snoring," said another voice, this one female with a strangely familiar accent.

_I beg your pardon since when have I ever snored?_

"I see our guest is indeed awake," Velma cursed herself, betrayed by an indignant snort.

"Anything to say sleepyhead?" there was no malice in the voice, but no real hint of mercy either.

Velma shrugged her shoulders as best she could, "Well you're either going to tell me why you've committed a federal crime and kidnapped me or you won't so there's not much point in speaking." Velma tried to sound brave and nonchalant as if this was nothing more than a mild inconvenience but her insides were trembling.

"True, I expect that you expect us to reveal our plans to you as in the movies."

"That would be helpful and save a lot of time," said Velma hopefully.

"Well…. No."

"No fair."

A figure crouched down next to her head. She could sense the mood in the room become more serious.

"Life isn't fair as you are finding out. We need some things to happen, someone to cooperate, to see the error of their ways and you are the way to get their cooperation."

_Oh jinkies this is going from bad to worse_ "My parents aren't that well off, we're not rich. Please I, I don't know any of you, I can't identity you. You can let still me go… please don't hurt me..."she began to involuntarily curl up into a foetal position as she spoke.

Another voice spoke cutting her off mid-sentence "I must apologise for the way you were just spoken to, you are in no physical danger. If you cooperate and do not resist the only person who will hurt you is yourself. We have a job to do and you have a role to play in that." This voice was gentler and reassuring, despite her situation Velma felt herself calm down slightly.

"A role? You, you should call my agent."

"That's better, just lie still and be quiet and all will be well. If everything goes to plan you will be home soon." With that the figures left her and returned to whatever they were doing.

Sonia looked at her watch then at the empty CoolBalls stand. She smiled to herself knowing that Rudi would soon get to work extracting the secrets of the CoolBalls; they already had some information and had changed their product as a result, there was no hurry they were in this for the long run. But for now they had an even better advantage they now had no competition for the lunchtime rush. Finally Shaggy made the call to Velma's parents to find out where she was, the panicked response at the other end filled him with dread.

Velma had lay as quietly as she could, occasionally shuffling around trying to ease the growing strain in her shoulders and numbness in her legs. She was torn between listening in to the conversation for clues or zoning out in case the conversation involved her fate. In the end she rested her head against her arm and let her mind wander. She had no real time reference but soon her stomach began to indicate it was lunchtime o'clock.

In the world outside pandemonium was breaking out; every agency from the police, the FBI to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game had been called. As far as anyone could tell Velma had simply vanished from the face of the earth. Her car was still in the car park, her bag was in her locker and the security system showed her arriving for work but never leaving. Security had checked the building from top to bottom, twice, just in case she'd been taken ill somewhere. Scooby tried to find Velma but her scent trail was all over the place but he could confirm she hadn't left by any regular exit. Given that Velma was part of Mystery Incorporated it was decided that no one would tell the press yet, the police also needed to rule out the possibility that she simply hadn't run off of her own accord. Two officers were assigned to patrol the store being visible and seen to be doing something. They were both experienced beat officers and were good at spotting things that others may have missed.

"Time to sit up…" Velma's wrists were freed and she was pulled into a sitting position, before she could react she was pushed back against the pipe and her arms were pulled back behind her and her wrists were secured behind the pipe.

"Now we are going to leave you so…"

"I know, I know," Velma opened her mouth slightly as the drawstring around her neck was loosened and the hood lifted slightly. To her surprise it was a straw that was placed in her mouth.

"We will be gone for several hours so this is your last chance for a drink, but when we come back we will make you more comfortable." _Joy_ thought Velma. The figures waited patiently as Velma drank. She drank as much as she could not knowing how long it would be before she would get the chance again.

"I'm done."

"Now we need to make sure you don't attract any attention so…" Velma sighed and opened her mouth again.

"Wider please, a bit more, as wide as you can, thank you." _what is this a dental exam? _A bright light was shone into her mouth for a few seconds.

"Aughmp," went Velma as a large ball was gently forced deep into her mouth then buckled tightly in place. As soon as it was done the hood was dropped back down and the draw-string pulled closed around her neck. She explored the ball with her tongue; it had a hole in the centre and found she could easily breathe through it.

"Can you breathe well?"

"Muuh-hu," Velma nodded.

"One more thing to make sure a resourceful person like yourself doesn't go walkabout."

"Muuuh?" she could hear the sound of tape being pulled off a roll. She sagged inside as it was applied to her hands; soon each hand was mummified in tape, no longer available to take part in any escape attempt. That done they walked away she heard the sound of retreating footsteps, a door opened, the footsteps paused.

"Before I forget when you are free you need to see a dentist, you have the beginning of a cavity on the lower left molar right at the back of your mouth."

"Ank-ooo," _that explains the odd twinge when eating ice cream_.

"You're welcome, as for your role you have a non-speaking part," with that there was a click then the lights went out, the last clear sound was that of the door being closed and locked shut. Only when they were gone did Velma realise just how scared she had been. Slowly her inside began to wind down and she got her thoughts in order and tried to make light of her situation.

_Jinkies I've been captured by the bad-guys; actually captured and held prisoner – and I didn't even lose my glasses, heck I didn't even think there were any bad-guys… Well this is a turn-up for the books__,__ Daph's sure not going to let me forget this one for a while... Wish these handcuffs weren't so tight and whilst I appreciate the safety aspects of having a gag I can easily breathe through it doesn't half make you drool... Wonder if the tape on my hands is hypoallergenic, hope it is… At least I didn't have to pay for my dental exam, hmmm that might be a clue… This is boring; I'm going to ask for a radio next time._ She gave a sad sigh knowing that there would be a next time, with her hands rendered useless escape was impossible… unless. Velma began to struggle to stand up; if nothing else it would give her something to do to pass the time, and take her mind off all that water she had just drunk.

Officers Toby and Feri walked slowly around the store getting a feel for the place. The place was a rabbit warren, their first recommendation was to get in one of their own tracker dogs, Scooby was OK but he wasn't a trained professional. There were plenty of places you could hide someone, even more you could hide a body but none of them wanted to think down that route yet. They stopped in their tracks when they heard a scream followed by cries of alarm, people began running past them in panic. They ran in the opposite direction to the crowd, round a corner and came face to face with three six-foot tall walking fish. It was green like the seaweed which clung to it, behind was two smaller orange coloured ones were shaking the HerringBall stall. All the fish were both moaning something in an alien tongue. The officers called in backup and drew their weapons. The Fish threw balls which broke on contact of the ground; green smoke which smelled faintly of rancid fish covered their view. The officers retreated, coughing on the fumes, Shaggy and a couple of other guards were there within moments but they too were forced back by the smoke. The alien voices grew louder and louder, the police couldn't fire for fear of hitting an bystander. Shaggy and Scooby grabbed some tower fans, plugged them in and quickly dispersed the smoke but the creatures had vanished.

Velma sat back down in defeat; it was a floor to ceiling pipe. She'd just have to wait, cross her legs, think dry thoughts and drool like a baby until they moved her someplace else or she was found.

Daphne nodded a greeting to Toby as she walked down a corridor In the Beautiful Food Company. Toby headed to theMD's office, document in hand, waiting to go in. The MD sat hunched in chair speaking in hushed tones on his mobile phone.

"Who you talking to boss?"

"Oh emmm, just some, friends, yes friends," he sat up strait "so have you got the first draft of the marketing plan."

"Yep here it is boss." Toby handed over a thick document.

"Thank you Toby, could you feed this fish on the way out?"

"Will do."

As Toby fed the fish Daphne's boss sat back in his chair and began to read through the first draft of the secret marketing campaign 'Imagine a world without CoolBalls.'

"All done boss, hope you like the plan. We think it's a winner but what would cause something like that to happen?"

"Oh something will turn up, it always does," he smiled and waved at this fish as he spoke "some disaster or calamity I expect."

Upstairs in FlatterPack things were turning nasty, while the police crime-scene crew worked on the stall area. Sonia had confronted Shaggy, convinced that Velma was behind the events which had just occurred.

"She is hiding because she is ashamed that she damaged out stall," said Sonia.

"Like no way, Velma would never do that, ever!" said Shaggy emphatically slowly waving his arms as he spoke.

"I understand, you say these things because you like her."

"Like, emm, no, yes, no, I'm not saying that, like Vel would never do that, she's not like that."

"I understand that you do not want to believe she is capable of this as she is your girlfriend, yes?"

"Emmm, like did Daphne put you up to this?" He looked around thinking that Daphne was hiding someplace, spying on him. His eyes settled on one of the security cameras.

"Like I can prove that it wasn't Vel."

Before they could leave the police asked to speak to Sonia. She walked back with the officer, Shaggy couldn't hear what they were saying but whatever it was her response was angry, and loud. In her anger she'd slipped back into her native tongue, Shaggy didn't understand what it was but it sounded similar to what he'd just heard. He glanced round to see the police officer confronting Sonia pointing to a clear plastic evidence bag with something orange inside.

As soon as he got back to the security office Shaggy called the rest of the gang to come over as soon as they finished work, he then set to work trying to figure out what was going on. He replayed the tape from moments ago. Images of human-sized fish like creatures with open mouths full of rows of sharp pointy teeth and webbed-clawed hands filled the screens. Scooby hid under the desk and put his paws over his eyes while Shaggy's gripped the arms of his chair and lent forward as he looked at the footage of their childhood nemesis made flesh "Icktharians!" exclaimed Shaggy, Scooby whimpered, closing his eyes even tighter.


	6. Old Bad News From The Good Old WOrld

On seeing the footage Shaggy immediately dashed home, grabbed some books stored in the attic, then dashed back to work. He called his boss, Mr Parker, over and handed him a thick book.

"Like page 105 boss."

Mr Parker took the book, he looked at the cover, 'Caverns and Creatures - Deluxe Monster Manual' then turned to page 105. Sure enough on the page was a drawing of creatures almost identical to those just seen. Above the drawing was the title, The Icktharians - Evil from beneath the waves. He raised a sceptical eyebrow and looked at Shaggy.

"So you're telling me that we've been attacked by some creatures from a Caverns and Creatures game?" he said indicating at the open page. Mr Parker sat on the edge of the desk and listened to what Shaggy had to say.

"Boss everybody who plays C&C knows about them. The only thing is, of all the creatures in the game, these are based on real legends," said Shaggy.

"Go on Mr Rogers."

"Yeah, right, like the legend says they dwell in the seas around Scandinavia and other countries with a crinkle-cut coastline and were always trying to invade the surface world. They were also called 'ghost fish' by the local communities as they could appear and disappear without being detected. They moved stealthily through caverns and tunnels inshore only to emerge to cause havoc and mayhem and…"

"And?"

"And kidnap land dwellers then turn them into their underwater slaves. Like they must have taken Velma!"

"They get air-miles now? You can't tunnel across the Atlantic!" he shook his head, poor lad he's taking Velma's disappearance really hard he thought.

"But they don't need to, they're fish, they can swim."

"And people can dress up as them! You of all people should know that." Shaggy paused in mid-panic, his boss had a point.

"But, like, who else knows about those legends?"

They paused, their eye met briefly then together they looked at the monitor and the image of the Nordskov's stand.

"I'm calling this one in, good job Norville, I mean Shaggy."

By that afternoon the police had their one and only suspects, the Nordskov's in custody. The evidence was circumstantial but compelling. First there was the orange turtleneck found in the HerringBall stall. Secondly, following an anonymous tip-off, the police raided their home and found a pair of black-framed glasses and used cable-ties along with the draft of a ransom note and a copy of a newspaper with a ring drawn around a picture of Velma.

The police called the gang and Velma's parents over to positively identify the evidence. Detective Kay, the officer in charge if the investigation, outlined what they had found so far. He was convinced that this was a simple case.

"This is just a formality, pretty much an open and shut case." He said as he took them to the table where the evidence bags were laid out, "We don't know at the moment where Velma is but we're going to charge the Nordslov's with being accessories to kidnapping and then offer them a plea bargain if they spill the beans. So here it is." He motioned with his hands

"That's not her jumper," said Shaggy.

"Are you sure?" said Detective Kay.

"Trust me, you spend any time in Velma's company and you soon know all there is to know about orange turtlenecks, Shag's right, that isn't her jumper," said Fred. Daphne and Scooby nodded in agreement.

"These are not her glasses either, the frame is correct but the prescription is incorrect," said Mr Dinkley looking through the lenses in the evidence bag.

Fred stared at the newspaper "Hmmm this ring around Velma looks like a coffee stain to me," carefully he managed to reveal the page underneath and sure enough the ring was also there "looks like someone just up their coffee mug on the paper."

"Plus how could there be a tip-off? There's a news blackout at the moment, nobody knows she's missing." said Daphne looking Detective Kay in the eye.

The frustration was evident on Kay's face. "We'll have to let them go then, but they'll be watched, hopefully they'll lead us to where Velma is being held."

As the day progressed, after some initial rejoicing, Velma could sense a growing tension between her captors. Finally a message of some sort arrived and she could tell it was bad news for them and by implication very bad news for her.

"Things have not gone to plan," said one with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Did you think it would be that simple? It is time to move to the next stage as we discussed, a more direct approach is in order."

"Agreed it is time to move to the next phase of our operation."

Even under the hood Velma got the distinct impression they were looking at her.

"Like gang, I've been working on the security camera footage from today and I think I've found a clue," said Shaggy as they walked out of the police station.

"What are we waiting for Shag, show us what you've found," said Fred clapping Shaggy on the back.

"Delays, delays," Rudi muttered to himself as he and Sonia walked into their house. They'd been stuck at the police station for hours. Still they were back and he had work to do, he opened the tool box and took out the spirit burner and the cloth roll which contained the scalpels and other dissection equipment. He went to a cupboard and removed a bottle of acid and a pipette then headed into the basement, it was time for the serious questioning to begin.

Velma heard movement around her. The hood was pulled off her head and bright lights shone in her face. She couldn't see much without her glasses, the lights meant she saw even less. Someone went behind the pole; they reached round and held her head firmly in place while another sat on her legs. A figure loomed over her, they held something metallic looking in their hand; it had a thin shiny point. Velma began to struggle and fight for all she was worth as they leaned in close and brought the object close to her face.

"I think we'll start with the eye…"


	7. Where the Clues Look for You

Mr Parker cleared his throat and addressed the gang "Before you start I need to tell you that the creatures we saw here were also seen at the CoolBall plant earlier in the day. Velma had just come from looking into that event when she arrived here and went missing."

"Like no! That means they were lying in wait for her, they know she knows their secrets!"

Daphne put her hands on Shaggy's shoulders.

"Calm down Shag, this isn't helping her."

Shaggy took a deep breath "Right Daph, ok gang this what I've found." Shaggy typed in a few commands, the main screen flashed up with a floor-plan of the store and camera footage.

"Jeepers ghost fishes!"

Scooby leapt into Daphne's arms as images of glowing fishes appeared on the main screen. The impact caused Daphne's chair to hurtle out of control round the room and out of the door.

"Tell me what I missed!" cried Daphne as she and Scooby careered into the next room.

"Reeeeeeee!" said Scooby.

"Not ghost fishes, Icktharians!" called Shaggy pausing the playback.

"Same difference," called Daphne "and easier to spell!"

"I've linked the images of the cameras together so they can track the creatures, watch."

Scooby handed round the popcorn as the screens came to life. They watched as the Icktharians emerged from the darkness and began to vandalise the Dinkley stand, they briefly messed around with the HerringBall stand then headed back into the darkness. Shaggy fast forwarded the footage, more lights came on as the store began to awake.

"Enter Velma stage right," said Shaggy. They could see Velma tidying up the stall and checking the equipment before noticing something and taking out her magnifying glass.

"Trust Velma to find a clue," said Fred.

The gang watched Velma's investigations till she disappeared through a door, but never came out.

"But we already searched the store, including the basement - twice," said the store manager.

"And then some," said Mr Parker.

"True but there are all sorts of basements and tunnels around here, this area used to be part of an old industrial and warehouse site back in the thirties, plus there are places in the store that aren't covered by cameras, look here…"

Shaggy typed in more commands, the screen was filled with the floor-plan and part of the surrounding area. The areas were colour coded, green, amber and red. "Like the red areas are where there's no camera coverage while amber has partial or occasional coverage." Most of the basement was red.

"Shaggy how did you learn to do this?" asked Daphne.

"Like this set-up is just like the controls in that 'Super Creepy Monster Land' video game." Daphne nodded, not even Velma could beat him at that. "Plus this place is built directly over the old town hall, I remember that it had all those tunnels and sub-basements."

"You do?" said Fred.

"Yeah like I had to do a project on it a couple of years ago, I used the lay-out for a Caverns and Creatures game, that map is still being played today."

"So they made their escape through an underground tunnel?" said the security manager.

"Something like that," said Fred.

"I remember, they were thinking about using it as an air-raid shelter in World War 2 and again in the 60's as a fall-out shelter. They dug a few tunnels but nothing much else," said Mr Parker.

"So your 'waste of time' activities weren't a waste of time after all?" said Fred.

"Like Velma often quoted stuff at me, she used to quote this dead French dude 'chance favoured the prepared mind' though in my case she always said it was the well-fed mind." Shaggy smiled; there was always warmth and affection in her voice when she said that, and in her touch. How he missed that touch. His thoughts were broken by a phone call.

"That was Mr Dinkley, those ghost fish things have been seen near the CoolBalls factory again, this time they scared away most of the workers turning up for the night shift," said Mr Parker.

"Time to catch us a ghost fish," said Fred "Shag, Scoob you go to the factory with Velma's parents and check it out while Daph an' me will try to follow Velma's footsteps."

While Shaggy and Scooby headed over to join Velma's parents and check out the factory Fred and Daphne studied the floor plan while Mr Parker got them a pass that would enable them to access the behind the scenes areas of the store. With that sorted they each took a torch and radio and headed off.

As soon as Shaggy and Scooby arrived at the factory they set to work searching for clues. Everyone knew of the pairs reputation for being scared of their own shadow but not today. Shaggy strode into rooms and peered down dark and spooky corridors. He was shaking like a leaf but his boldness and determination touched the Dinkley's hearts. But it was all for nothing, they only found but a few damp fin prints. Then came word from security, a proximity sensor on the roof had been activated. Mr Dinkley guided them to the nearest elevator.

Torches in hand Fred and Daphne walked through the store. They'd already investigated the door Velma had last been seen entering and had found nothing but a corridor leading to an empty storeroom. It was too dark and there were too many shadows. Daphne called security and asked them to turn in some if the lights.

"Shield your eyes," Daphne slipped her arm into Fred's "ready."

The lights came on, they opened their eyes to find themselves surrounded by a shoal of Icktharians.

"Jeepers, talk about swimming with the fishes!"

Fred grabbed hold of Daphne's hand and pulled her out of the way as one made a grab for her, he shoulder-charged barged his way through pulling Daphne behind him. They ran through the store with the Icktharians in hot pursuit.

"We're meant to be looking for clues, not the other way round," shouted Fred as they ran through soft furnishings.

"Oooh nice pillows, this year's colours too," said Daphne, she grabbed a few as she ran past, jumped up, spun round and threw the cushions at the fish causing them to trip over each other.

By the time Shaggy, Scooby and the Dinkleys had arrived on the roof security had been able to work out that it had been a cat hunting pigeons which had triggered the sensor. So with that all cleared up they headed to check the basement, the last remaining place to search. Scooby yawned at the music in the elevator as it headed down to the basement.

"This way!" Fred pulled Daphne down an isle "See that walkway up there?" Fred pointed to a walkway below which were a set of storage units of different heights arranged in height order.

"We can't get up there!"

"We can, climb up those boxes then jump up and pull ourselves up, we can do it those fish things can't."

"Ok Freddie," _like we've got a choice_.

They clambered up the units, rapidly followed by the ghost fish who proved to be more agile than they appeared. Once at the top Fred jumped up and grabbed hold of the edge of the walkway. Daphne quickly climbed up him to escape the Icktharians, Fred began to pull himself up but his legs were grabbed by a pair of Icktharians.

_Mine_! Thought Daphne, she grabbed hold of Fred's wrists and began to pull him up. A tug of war game then ensued, with Fred as the rope.

Shaggy and Scooby sped through the basement, Shaggy's hair waved in the breeze while Scooby had his tongue hanging out. It was the fastest basement hunt they had ever done, and they hadn't had to break out in a sweat. This was due to the Segways the factory used for moving about the basement.

"Like this is the way to go!" said Shaggy.

"Indeed,we had thought about golf buggies but these are much more fun," said Mrs Dinkley.

"Yes we occasionally race each other at the end of the day," said Mr Dinkley.

Somehow in the tug-of-war the storage units ended up being knocked over leaving an Icktharian hanging on to each of Fred's legs. He cried out as pain tore through both his shoulders, his arms didn't feel right anymore. The added weight was proving to much for Daphne and her grip began to fail; as Fred's clothes began to slip through her fingers another pair of hands took hold of Fred. Daphne glanced round, it was Sonia Nordskov. She shouted angrily at the Icktharians in a language Daphne didn't understand. There was a tearing sound and the Icktharians fell to the ground. Daphne and Sonia stood up to haul Fred the last few inches to safety. As she did Daphne felt a popping sensation from both of her ankles. As soon as Fred was safely on the walkway she sunk to the floor clutching her ankles in pain. She glanced down; the ghost fish were still down there, reassembling the storage units for another attempt at climbing up.

"Freddie, I can't walk but you can, I'll hold them off as long as I can…"

"No Daph, you punch and I'll kick, if we go down we go down together."

"Like Scoob a basement, attic, rooftop and dark factory, like all _empty_." Shaggy bit into a chocolate bar as he watched Mrs Dinkley fill-up their car, Scooby nodded as he ate a hotdog. They'd stopped at a gas station on the way back to FlatterPack to fill up the car, and their stomachs. Once everything was filled they headed back.

The sound of running feet echoed throughout the building as security guards converged from all directions. Once again the Icktharians lived up to their ghost fish nickname as they vanished in cloud of smoke. Fred looked at Sonia.

"Thanks for the help; do you know what those things are?"

"They, they are from a legend, a myth to scare small children into behaving that is all. I must be going." With that she hurried away looking worried.

Daphne looked over the edge, relieved to see that below her was nothing but store security and the bottom half of Fred's trousers.

"Though I was fish food, sure glad that herring person turned up," said Fred.

"I don't know Fred, her timing was too good. I mean what was she doing here and did you notice those ghost fish things let go as soon as she'd shouted to them? Pretty suspicious if you ask me."

Fred pushed himself over towards Daphne and they waited together for security to come to their aid.

"Daph, grab hold of one of my legs as tight as you can just like you saw the ghost fish do," Fred moved a leg so it was in Daphne's reach.

"Well if you insist but why?" Daphne ran her hand up Fred's calf and took hold.

"That's what their grip felt like."  
Daphne let go and put her hands on her hips, clearly un-amused by what Fred had just said "Fred Jones, if you think my hands are like those scaly webbed things then…"

"No Daph, they felt like your hands, your _human_ hands."

Daphne looked at her hands "People in masks?"

Fred nodded "Looks like it."

Shaggy, Scooby and the Dinkleys drove past the front FlatterPack on their way to the car-park.

"Like do you think we missed anything Scoob?" said Shaggy as they turned the corner to enter the car-park. They were greeted by a car-park containing several police cars, two ambulances and a fire-engine.

"I think the answer is yes," said Mr Dinkley.

Fred and Daphne's were briefly carted off to hospital to be checked over. Fred had dislocated both his shoulders and strained the muscles. He was discharged with both his arms in a sling. Daphne had damaged her Achilles tendon and was confined to hobbling around in crutches wearing colour coordinated boots with a wheelchair available for speedier transport.

"Thank you for trying, it really warms our hearts knowing Velma has such true friends as you all," said Velma's Father as he stood up ready to go "but you really now should leave it to the police and the FBI."

The gang made various non-committal noises at the suggestion.

"We need to be going, some workers are back but we'll loose most of this day's production, they'll be a lot of empty shelves tomorrow." One of the secrets of CoolBall's success was the freshness of the product, from the factory gate to the customers stomach within a few hours. There would be a lot of hungry commuters tomorrow. The gang could sense the burden of the Dinkley's; they not only had to deal with Velma's presumed kidnapping they now had a threat to their business and their employee's safety and livelihoods to worry about.

"He's got a point Shag," said Fred sadly when had gone.

"Shaggy?" Daphne looked into his face; there was hardness, a sense of determination she'd not seen before.

"No, we carry on. Scoob and me, we're not going to give up on Velma."

"Neither are we, but we can't take on those fish things like this," said Fred.

"Like Velma's missing, it's been too long, not even you've been missing this long Daph."

"True, you were always there quickly, but we can't move. I can't walk more than a few steps and Freddie can't use his arms."

"I know Daph, but I also know that Velma wouldn't give up, she'd look for another way of doing things and so must we." Shaggy paused, took a deep breath and scratched his head as the wheels turned slowly "we need serious thinking karma Scoob; it's chilli-bean burrito time."

"I'll get the gas-masks," whispered Daphne to Fred.

"Ran I'll ret the ice ream," said Scooby popping up between them.


	8. Movie Star

Early the next morning a DVD was found on the steps to the CoolBall factory. The police, Velma's parents and the gang were called in. There were nervous glances around the room .

"Ready?" said detective Kay, he pressed play.

An image flickered on the screen. It showed a figure sitting against a pole with their arms pulled back behind the pole, a light brown hood was over their head. A pair of handcuffs were just visible on their ankles. What could be seen of their legs were grubby, scratched and bruised with open wounds on the knees. The figure wore an all too familiar ensemble of orange sweater and red skirt. A scaly, webbed hand appeared in the frame and removed the hood.

A quiet groan filled the room, on the screen was Velma, a large red ball was pressed deep into her mouth the straps digging cruelly into either side of her mouth. There was a hole in the centre of the ball thorough which a small trickle of drool ran down onto her jumper to feed the growing damp patch on her chest. A pair of red and watery eyes looks out through her crystal clear glasses.

The ransom demand was simple, burn down the meatball factory and leave town or they would never see Velma again, ever. As the voice spoke the camera slowly zoomed in on Velma, at the end was a close up of her face. She was crying; it looked like she'd been beaten, her right eye was blackened, there were dark bruises on her face and dried blood round her nose and mouth. Fred paced around in frustration; Daphne yelled tearful abuse while Scooby growled angrily at those who had hurt Velma and made her cry. Only Shaggy remained outwardly passive, he leant forward, and stared at the screen. "Hmmmm," he stroked his chin.

The wound prosthetics, make-up and fake blood had been removed as soon as the video had been taken. It had all been a fake, all but the tears that is, they had sprayed something in her eyes and nose to make them run but the moment the camera had started rolling and they began to address her parents it all became too much. Her gag was removed, the hood replaced and her ankles were freed. She was gently pulled to her feet; her wrists were freed from behind the pole but immediately secured behind her back. "Time to move to a new home, you will be more comfortable there," said a voice.

The sensible thing would have been to count the number of steps and turns made so that despite being hooded she could retrace her steps but she was too upset to pay much attention. As they walked her along they reassured her that she would be free soon, free unharmed, the unharmed bit was stressed a number of times. By the time she had collected a semblance of her wits about her it was too late to track where she was going. All she knew was that they were still in the same building but at a much lower level.

The noise of protesting hinges indicted they had reached their destination. From the sound she deduced they were now in large room. They moved further into the room, Velma felt herself being turned around and moved back, her legs touched something wooden, her wrists were freed.

"Please sit down," said a gentle voice.

Velma fumbled around, found a chair and sat down. Something was moved in front of her, her hood was loosened and hands were guided towards foods bottle if drink and some food, warm food, freshly made paninis by the feel and smell.

"There, that's a more civilised way to eat," said a voice.

The speaker watched as Velma fed herself, her hands patting around the plate and table for her food before they vanished under the hood. It was a pity things had come to this but needs must as the devil drives. Still it should all be over soon. Honour would be restored and aside from a few marks their guest would be fine, she was showing strength of character many adults lacked. It was a pity those who had caused thus situation in the first place didn't possess the same.

After her meal Velma was allowed a quick bathroom break before being moved back into the room. As she entered there was the sound of something being slid over the floor. She was guided face-first against a pipe, she briefly resisted when her hands were fastened round the pipe but quickly relented, resistance was truly pointless but at least the cuffs weren't as tight this time. Gentle pressure on her shoulders was the sign for her to sit but instead of cold, hard concrete what she sat on was soft and warm, a mattress. She didn't hear the sound of springs as she lay down on her front. Whatever it was the mattress was very comfortable. Once she was settled it was no surprise that her ankles were secured, what was a surprise was the duvet which was placed over her immediately after.

_Luxury_ she thought sarcastically.

Again they assured her that the 'never see her again, ever' part was for dramatic effect, just like the make-up; all they wanted was for the plant to close. Again they swore that she would come to no harm and would be freed, if she did as she was told. _There's always a catch_ Velma thought. At least she was more comfortable, the duvet was wonderfully warm and made her feel more secure while the mattress yielded gently to her body. It reminded her if the memory-foam mattress she and Shaggy had sat on at work during one of their practice osculations. _Shaggy_ she hugged the pipe imagining it was him then a thought struck her - _Memory foam, jinkies I think I know where I am!_ It sure explained why she was gagged when left alone, there was the possibility of attracting attention. The business with the make-up set her thinking, given the fakery she tentatively concluded that neither molestation nor murder featured in her immediate future. She now felt confident enough to do 'the Dinkley thing' as Fred called it, finding clues and solving the mystery. There was only one problem for the first time since her abduction she was warm and relatively comfortable; physically and emotionally exhausted, and with a belly full of warm food, Velma was asleep before she knew it.


	9. Future Shock

On the top floor of a long abandoned office block on the outskirts of town an old man sat and looked down on Coolsville as the sun set on another day. He sighed and shook his head as the smell of smoke drifted in through the broken windows, the nightly looting had begun. Soon the smell of smoke was joined by that of CS gas. Things must be bad he reasoned as the police, well what remained of the police, could barely afford tear gas these days and relied on simple baton charges when they could be bothered. Most of the city was dark, few wanted to advertise the fact that they could still afford electricity and so might have something left worth stealing. His eyes settled on the distant bulk of the CoolBall factory, now empty and lifeless; when it closed the heart had been torn out of the city and the decline into anarchy had begun. The rationing of Coolballs had been bad enough what with the hoarding and muggings that followed. As the queues grew longer and the rations smaller the mood turned uglier, soon riot squads were stationed next to the few open stalls. It is said that civilisation is three meals away from barbarism and Coolsville had been no exception. The man looked at his most treasured position, a vintage CoolBall wrapper, before safely tucking it away inside his clothes, that done he then picked up his bag and baseball bat, it was time to go home before things turned really nasty.

Years later and Coolsville lay in ruins, a desolate wasteland where dispirate tribes of survivors eked out an existence amongst the remains of their former glories. There were a few old-ones who remembered the time before but they rarely spoke about it, the memory of that fatal day when the last CoolBall was made and the gates closed forever was too painful. The factory itself was now just a broken empty shell, its secrets lost forever but many of the old ones chose to be buried there.

One day a team of scavengers from one of the tribes was moving through an industrial area on one of their regular sweeps for anything useful. As they moved through they noticed that part of a building had collapsed since their last visit giving easy access to the inside. There inside, lit by shafts of light from gaps in the roof, stood a black rectangular structure the size of a small van. They carefully entered and approached, makeshift weapons at the ready in case this was some kind of ambush.

With a couple of their number standing watch the rest clustered around the black mass. Up close they could see their reflections in the gloss black surface underneath a layer of dust. The leader wiped away the dirt from an area in of front of them and the others followed. Most of the surface was smooth and uniform but in one area there was a small indentation slightly bigger than a piece of letter paper

The leader glanced around then pressed the indentation, there was a faint hissing noise and a few moments later the area moved out to reveal a draw containing a small square package just big enough to rest on one hand. It was frozen rock-solid, colder than anything they had ever touched. They did it again and another identical package appeared. The packages were covered in frost which reappeared when wiped away but under which markings could be seen, markings which looked like those mentioned by their old one. The discovery of a working piece of pre-fall technology was an important find, especially one bearing those marks. They hurried back taking step to ensure they weren't followed.

By the time they had returned the packages had begun to defrost. There was much commotion in the camp as soon as the packages were revealed. The packages were emptied into a pan and heated through while they waited for the old one to be brought in. An air of reverential silence settled over the room. The old-ones had kept them alive, their knowledge had proved invaluable during the collapse of civilisation. Their old-one was unique, born during the collapse they knew the most of the times before. There were tears in their eyes as they approached the pot, the smell was enough, the same smell from their earliest memories huddled round a campfire eating the last few rations as the world collapsed around them. They tasted the food, they covered their eyes as the tears flowed freely, it is the real thing.

Word of the discovery quickly spread to the other tribes and they began to gather and together they worked to rebuild the city; their chosen flag - a stylised representation of CoolBalls logo. They gave thanks to those in the past who had made that beacon of hope and flung it unto the future. Thanks to those unknowns in the past the long night was over and dawn was upon them at last. But who were those unknowns…

The image faded and the lights came on, Toby blinked slightly.

"Excellent Toby, that's just the kind of creative opening that should interest the Dinkleys in the project," said the MD as the rest of the Beautiful Foods creative team stood and applauded. When they had all gone the MD made a phone call, then walked up to the fish and whispered to them, "and we have just the thing that will encourage them to agree to this."

Following forensic analysis of the video the police raided the Nordsvok's home again as their basement was similar to that in the video. But once again the evidence against them didn't stack up. As the police left the house they were confronted by a pair of Icktharians, this time they spoke in broken English, they pointed at the house and muttered the words 'guilty' and 'tradition' before vanishing behind a wall of smoke.

The gang quickly determined that the Icktharians fell because Fred's trousers had torn off not because of what Sonia said. Further evidence to back up Fred's observation was found in the form of drops of human blood where the Icktharians had landed. Sonia had an alibi for being there, she said she was looking for Velma to prove her and her brother were innocent. While the police were not convinced Daphne was inclined to believe them, they'd seen too many set-ups in the past to be taken in by the easy answer. Finally Shaggy explained to the gang why he wasn't convinced by the video, the glasses were too clean; no glasses, broken glasses or dirty glasses yes, but glasses as clean as Velma keeps them? Privately he wouldn't think of any other interpretation as the other option didn't bear thinking about.

Overnight the Icktharians attacked the CoolBall factory again, not only scaring the workers but also damaging the delivery trucks. The next morning there was a CoolBall shortage for the first time in the town's history. Police were called to one of the affected stores due to customer behaviour. There were also further sightings in the area near the Nordskov's house but by the times the police had arrived they had vanished.

Shaggy was in the security office at FlatterPack trying to do his day job while hunting for clues to Velma's whereabouts when he overheard a conversation between his boss and the store manager about thefts in the store it appeared that some food and other items had been stolen. Shaggy's brow furrowed, what had been stolen wasn't ready meals but ingredients for a meal and them means to make it all of which was very odd and not what would have been expected from regular staff pilfering.

Velma smiled as Shaggy walked up behind her and placed his arms around her waist. She turned and placed her arms round his neck, they were laughing and holding onto each other. The image changed, he became quiet and passive slowly turning into a statue. As she came awake she went to rub her eyes, it was then the reality of her situation hit home.

_No, no, no, no, no_! Velma twisted and tugged her handcuffs trying to free her hands. She was truly sick of being restrained 24/7 and was beginning to despair of ever being free. She sighed, at least she now had an objective reference for 'worst day in her life so far,' the once mortifying possibility of not having a date for the school's graduation prom now seemed something to look forward to. She held onto the pipe for dear life and tried to recapture the feeling of Shaggy's presence from her dream.

"Shaggy, I know you have Velma on your mind but we would like you to look at something else, it might help you," said Mr Parker.

"Like?"

"A mattress was stolen from the warehouse, one of the new memory foam ones and some bedding. I was wondering if you could use that computer skill of yours to see if you can work out what happened."

"OK, what exactly went missing?"

"A single memory foam mattress, a fitted sheet, a duvet and a duvet cover. Food you can slip in your pocket but a mattress, how on earth do you slip that out unnoticed?"

_How indeed?_ Thought Shaggy as he set to work.

Though it was late and way past the end of his shift Shaggy was still at the store as he had been every night, walking in and around it, looking for Velma or a clue to what had happened to her. He could feel his insides change, someone other than himself now mattered most of all.

Velma had soon lost all reference to day or night. The routine was this, when there was people present she lay on her front, on the mattress with a blanket over her, hands around pole, hooded but ungagged. When they left her alone she was sat up against the pipe wither her hands secured behind the back of the pipe, hands taped up for good measure and gagged. The only interruption to this routine were occasional meal and bathroom breaks. She was beginning to get used to not wearing her glasses, not that there was anything to see under the hood. The hood, that was the worst, it had only been removed for the video and briefly during bathroom breaks, she even had to eat with the thing on. Assuming three meals a day it had been nearly two days since the video had been taken. Whoever had taken her prisoner was very busy as it felt like she spent most of the time with her back to the pipe and the mattress did little to ease her discomfort during those long lonely hours.

As he worked on the problems of the stolen food and mattress he began to sense this was connected with Velma's abduction. If he could solve the former he would find Velma. Free of the routine terror of a case he fond he was able to systematically work the problem. Fred and Daphne's forced immobility helped as it made them stop and think so together they brainstormed and bounced ideas off each other. As he eliminated possibility after possibility Shaggy knew was closing in on an answer, he didn't know what it was but he knew not to force it. Scooby was able to answer one question, he'd been able to translate the sayings and the runes courtesy of a distant relative of his, the Viking dog Naddod Dan. Each said the same thing 'Tradition.'

Having been ordered home by his boss Shaggy slumped in an easy chair and fell asleep in front of the TV; his hand knocked the remote control of the arm of the chair. The channel changed to a classic film channel which later gave way to an open-access educational channel. As it did so Shaggy began to dream…

First he was a king, exhorting his soldiers and leading from the front; then he was a detective, a hard-boiled gumshoe pulling together clues to solve a case that nobody else could crack; finally he was a Queen walking amongst her troops on the eve of a decisive battle. At that Shaggy awoke with a start his head full of ideas, on the screen was a man with a beard Karl Marx would have been proud of writing up a set of equations on a blackboard and drawing a diagram, the diagram was the final piece of the puzzle. Shaggy ran through everything that had been in his head when he woke, it was mad but the police weren't making much headway. A voice came into his thoughts _Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead…_ "Like, random," he said to himself. His eyes scanned the room; relived to find a shortage of holes stuffed full of dead people of any nationality. Shaggy pondered where that line had come from, he couldn't recall but he knew what it meant for him. He grabbed his phone and called Fred and Daphne and get them meet him at FlatterPack "…guys we have not yet _begun_ to meddle!"


	10. Bang Goes the Theory

Velma decided it was time to try out her theory that she could be heard. She needed to pick a time when the store was occupied but quiet, that gave her a window of just a couple before and after it closed. From the yawning and general sluggishness of her captors as they prepared themselves, and her, for the day ahead she guessed it was very early in the morning, her best estimate was 6am. From various snippets of conversation she deduced they were going elsewhere for much of the day which was ideal from her point of view as it reduced the chance of them interrupting her. Finally she was alone, she waited and listened for any signs they were still around. Satisfied that they had gone she began to slowly count to 3600.

Rudi yawned as he swiped into the FlatterPack store. He had some work to do on the stall before Sonia came to get things ready for the day. He shook his head sadly at the sight of the empty CoolBall stall; it was too bad what had happened there but there was nothing he could do about it and set to work on his own stall.

3598... 3599... 3600 Velma began banging on the pipe with her handcuffs as hard as she could and yelled as loud as possible. Her already muffled cries didn't get much beyond the room she was in but the banging noise sounded faintly throughout an empty dimly-lit store, empty all bar one person.

Rudi stopped what he was doing and looked up convinced he'd just heard a tapping noise. He was just about resume work when... there _was_ a faint tapping noise. He closed his eyes and focused on the noise, regular metallic with a hollow ring to it, distant and muffled. The store was quiet but some_one_ was making that noise; perhaps it was that Dinkley girl who had gone missing. He sent a message to his sister then set off to follow the noise.

Velma could feel her arms becoming tired. She changed tactics to using one hand at a time, determined to keep going for as long as possible.

Rudi quickly made his way into the basement as most of the piping and ducting was down there. He was sure that the sound was louder. The sound occasionally became irregular with the odd short pause, an sign that the source was not artificial rather it was human and getting tired. He hunted around the basement but couldn't locate where it was coming from. He was able to locate something else, in an otherwise disused room there was a very organised set of crates in one corner behind which was an old door lying on the floor, so far so junk room. He tapped on the door, solid… solid… solid… hollow. He pulled the door along the floor and there in the corner was a stairwell heading down to a lower level. He carefully went down the stairs into a dark corridor, dark but with a faint glow of light coming from where it turned a corner.

By the way the door burst open Velma knew that her plan had failed. As she was dragged to her feet she was shouted at in a language she didn't understand. She was handled roughly as she was moved to a different location, this time they didn't free her ankles and she was simply dragged down several flights to an even lower level to where, she was informed, she wouldn't be able to cause any more trouble. There wouldn't be a mattress anymore, she had lost that 'privilege', it would be a cold, hard floor from now on. She was backed against a pipe. Her hands were yanked behind it, she bit into gag and shook her head as the cuffs were secured as tightly as they could be without slicing her wrists open.

The hood was lifted up giving a glimpse of the world around her. Mercifully she caught a brief glimpse of her glasses as they were tossed onto a nearby crate. Velma moaned as the gag was tightened by a couple of notches then the hood dropped down.

"Hurry up, move! Someone is coming." the call distracted the person dealing with Velma and they didn't pull the drawn string closed around her neck just pushed her to the ground.

"Coming Mr Rusa," the person muttered under their breath as they stood up and walked away.

"Mmn-meees!" She didn't mean to but another piece of the puzzle had just fallen into place and she'd let out an involuntary jinkies. This earned her a hard kick on sole of her shoe and a further instruction to be quiet. Velma now knew where she was and who was behind her abduction, the why could wait. That kick proved that her captors had just crossed a line, violence would now become easier; the next video might not need make-up. It was time to leave by any means possible.

The Mystery Machine screeched to a halt in the car-park just as Mr Parker arrived. There was no piling out of the van this time as they needed to set up Daphne's wheelchair. That done Fred sat in the chair then Daphne sat on his lap as, she claimed, it was more comfortable. That done Shaggy revved himself up and gripped handles of the wheelchair.

Though the noise had stopped a while ago Rudi had decided to follow the direction it had come from for a while longer as there were now signs of the corridor being recently travelled down. The signs eventually led to set of rooms with connecting doors. In the last he found a floor to ceiling pipe. On one side was a mattress with bedding strewn about, the opposite side if the pipe showed fresh chip and scratch marks. On the floor were several empty rolls of tape. He knelt down and felt the mattress, it was still warm with traces of orange wool on it. He remembered his previous encounters with that Dinkley girl; she wore a lot of orange. He stood up and looked around. There were clear signs of the place having been occupied for a while, then hurriedly vacated.

_What was her name now, Volvo? Vemma?_

"Velma! Velma can you hear me?"

Daphne closed her eyes in terror and clung onto Fred as Shaggy ran for the door as fast as he could, with the wheelchair bouncing in front of him. Scooby got to the door moments before Shaggy and swiped his entry card through the reader and opened the door moments before Shaggy got there. They rushed on in, skidding round on one wheel the chicane that was the cutlery and other sharp pointy object isle causing Fred and Daphne to cry out in alarm. Finally Shaggy deposited them onto a couch in the staff common room and went to get the coffee going leaving Scooby and Mr Parker to deal with the shell-shocked Fred and Daphne.

Rudi paused; there was a soft shuffling noise nearby.

"Velma? It's me Rudi, from the herring stall, are you there?"

The shuffling grew louder, he closed his eyes to focus on the sound; something was wrong, the sound was coming from multiple directions. He opened his eyes, something was definitely wrong, just then the lights went out; he took out his phone and turned on the torch. There were shapes in the room, large shapes. There was the sound of small objects hitting the floor about his feet followed by a hissing noise. Smoke swirled around him; he could hear movement and voices around him. He decided to make a run for it and turned from the exit; before he could take a step he was hit hard over head from behind and fell to the floor. Before he passed out he looked up to see Icktharians emerge from the smoke from all sides and standing over him.


	11. A Call To Arms

The gang were in the staff common room drinking coffee as Shaggy outlined his plan.

"Guys, remember the film Mission:Implausible 3 – Mirror of Mercy?" said Shaggy.

"What has this got to do with Velma?" said Fred.

"Well in that film they used the reflection from the baddies glasses to find the location of their hideout."

"So?" said Daphne draining her coffee mug, Fred leant forward, Shaggy was on to something.

"We've been thinking all wrong, food, bedding and a mattress have all been stolen from the store, they never left the store, Velma never left the store, she's still here down there somewhere," Shaggy pointed to the ground "There was stuff reflected in Velma's glasses if we can work out what it'll give us a clue as to where down there she is, I can get a copy of the DVD…"

"Velma could use her computer to do that, we don't have the skills," interrupted Fred.

"I know someone who does, Eric Staufer from the school cyber club," Shaggy took out his phone and called Eric, Daphne leant over and snatched the phone before Shaggy could speak.

"Eric, this is Daphne Blake whatever you are doing now is seriously not important, Velma's been kidnapped and we need you to help find out where she's being held."

A short while later Eric had joined them. They had moved to the security office so they could use the video equipment. Eric picked up a security camera that was lying around in the room as Shaggy described what he wanted Eric to do.

"Not my area of speciality, I'll call in some help. Do we know what type of camera this was taken on?" Eric peered through the lens of the security cameras "We can do some reverse optics to improve the image; I don't suppose any of you would have a laser on you?"

The gang turned out their pockets; Scooby dropped a couple of Scooby Snacks in Eric's lap and looked expectantly at him.

"We'll borrow one from college," said Eric patting Scooby on the head. He then wrote down a list of people to call and the gang hit the phones.

A couple of hours later and the phones were still buzzing as the reverse engineering of the reflected image got underway. Eric was glued to the phones, constantly taking and receiving call at the same time as trying to direct the image processing efforts. Shaggy had given Eric a new list of names to call; these people were needed for the second part of his plan. Shaggy and Scooby were outside dealing with the increasing numbers of people arriving to help. Soon people from every science, technology and workshop club in the city were there.

Shaggy climbed into the back of the Mystery Machine, it was the only place where they could get a bit of peace and quiet as the common room had been turned into a small server-farm. A lot of people were milling around doing a lot of things Shaggy didn't fully understand but Eric seemed to have it all under some kind of control. It felt like this was taking on a life of it's own which was what Shaggy had hoped.

"Any news?" said Fred when Shaggy had settled himself down.

"A deep basement, from what they could see and what we know of the place it was the level below the official basement."

"Anything else?"

"While it was a fishy hand that pulled the hood off, the people in the reflection were human. People in masks, I _knew_ it."

"Sure you did Shag," smiled Daphne, "how long do we have to wait here?" "Eric will come and get us when the command tent is up and running."

"A command tent, sweet," said Fred.

"Honestly when will you two grow up..."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"It's open!" said Fred.

The door opened, a hooded figure leant in.

"Excuse me have you seen my brother?" the voice was that of a young woman, a very worried young woman.

"Your brother?" said Fred.

"Yes he helps run the herring stall, I turned up as normal but he wasn't there, I thought he'd gone to get the stock for the day but he hasn't arrived. He's not at home and his phone is off."

"And you are?" said Fred, the figure pulled back their hood.

"Wait I recognise you…" said Shaggy

"Yes, I'm Sonia, Sonia Nordskov. The last message I had from Rudi was that he was following a tapping noise he could hear in the store. Believe me we have nothing to do with what ever happened to Velma, I fear whoever has taken her and tried to blame me and my brother for it have now taken him."

The gang looked at each other.

"We are now," said Daphne.

Eric appeared from behind Sonia.

"Tent's ready guys. I called those people you said Shag, and they brought along some friends and they brought some friends and... well I hope you don't mind."

He stood aside; the car park was full of people.


	12. We few, we happy few, we band of nerds

Fred sat in Daphne's wheelchair and she sat on his lap while Shaggy pushed them along as Eric gave them a guided tour of what was going on. Daphne filmed, photographed and blogged as they went. Daphne wasn't the only one doing this and soon Coolsville was trending on every social media site on the planet.

The local Caverns & Creatures players had turned out en-masse to help search, others players had driven in from neighbouring towns as word had spread; none would miss a chance to play 'the level' for real. On arrival they were being organised into groups, each was given a set route to follow. These routes had been worked out by the mathematicians to provide the most efficient search of the space. As the word had spread through the wider gaming community players of other games and general fans of the genre had arrived. They came because of Shaggy's map, because their campaigns had been enriched by Velma's input, because it was something special to do. And they all had come in costume.

The entrance to the car park was where people signed up. Next to that was a holding area where people waited to be assigned to a team. At the front of the store the equivalent of drill sergeants were putting groups of newly enlisted Dwarves, Elves and Klingons through their paces. In a quiet corner were the mathematicians with their white-boards, studying the maps and working out the best routes of entry and exit as well as providing support to the other technical groups.

Next to them were the communications people setting up remote camera and comms gear to be deployed as the teams went in. They were also busy in the command tent making the last minute adjustments to the data feeds which would flow into it when the operation started. By the shopping trolley park the twin brothers of Chip and Dale were beavering away assembling some 'rescue robots' to go into the deeper levels ahead of the search teams. These were made almost entirely out of plastic building blocks, they were fast, light, could climb stairs and fit into all kind of tight spaces. They would use sent into the deeper levels, using their on-board cameras to perform reconnaissance ahead of the human search teams. They also carried a large LED display to communicate with Velma if they found her.

In yet another part of the camp freshly drilled groups of Klingons and Dwarves were squaring up to each other, when they weren't shouting insults at the Elves that is. The Elves ignored them and focused on archery practice while fighters and Rangers sparred with each other. The clash of steel on steel sounded through the car park. Fred stared in disbelief; somehow they had acquired a blacksmith who was currently beating out some plate armour. It was like being in a strange fantasy/sci-fi fusion convention, tents and flags denoting the various activities were everywhere. Daphne's mouth twitched slightly as a platoon of Imperial Stormtroopers marched past.

"Never in the field of mystery solving has so much nerd been use by so many to rescue just one," said Fred as he observed the crowd working.

"At least none of them are wearing tights," whispered Daphne.

It wasn't all weapons and warriors in the camp, food was being cooked on braziers and open fires and a small inn had opened serving soft drinks, mead and warm flat beer. As if this wasn't enough noise musicians moved amongst the crowd playing to nobody in particular. The gang was surprised by the predominance of lute players. Daphne recognised two of them from her cheerleading squad.

_Lutes?_ Thought Daphne _Lutes! The school can barely put together a horn quartet for half-time but we've got lute players by the dozen._

Fred and Shaggy were impressed by a flute player with a big flowing hair and bushy beard. He wore a frock-coat made out of strips of coloured material and was standing on one leg while balancing on a bollard with his other leg resting in the crook of his knee playing an impossibly fast tune.

They looked at the list of the latest arrivals, Daphne recognised a few of the names, there was Jack Morgan from her history class, he had come as a samurai and the Thompson twins, no surprising who they'd come as. _Only three Spartans, well I suppose there is a recession on._

The place was alive with activity and purpose, it was infectious. It event got to Fred and Daphne, despite being officially signed off sick from mystery solving Fred and Daphne were compelled to join in.

"I want to help Shag, I _need_ to help, so does Freddie he's going nuts with both his arms in slings; he's even tried to make traps with his feet."

"Fred, like what do you want to do?" Shaggy looked at Fred, he could sense Fred's frustration at things, he could just about scratch his nose let alone build a trap.

"I need to be there Shag, I want to get in there and get Vel out of there, to make those Icky-fishy things pay."

"I think I can help," said Eric, he pulled a 2-way radio out of his pocket and called and called some people over. One of them Fred knew, he worked at the garage where Fred had the Mystery Machine serviced. Daphne stood up to allow Fred to get up then sat back down in the wheelchair.

"Guys, I don't want just a trap, I want to be there..." Fred outlined what he wanted as he and the newly formed Team Ascot headed off to work on his plan.

"Any ideas for me?" said Daphne.

Shaggy looked at Daphne, "Daph you can run the comms, you're ace at keeping people informed and keeping track of all that social network stuff."

"Well sign me up Shag and plug me in."

Having been duly sworn in Daphne wheeled herself into the command tent and parked next to Shaggy, Scooby and Eric.

"I'm here so now what do I do?" To Daphne's eyes what was going on in the tent was just as confusing as what was going on outside.

"Let me show you around, like over here is the map area..."

Shaggy took Daphne on a familiarisation tour of the tent while Eric went to deal with things outside. Around the walls were large maps of the store and what was known about the lower levels. All the maps had been hand drawn on hex paper. In the centre of the tent was a plotting table with these maps laid out, painted lead figures were being placed on in various locations to mark the start points for the various teams. One corner was occupied by banks of monitors and computers. This was the communications centre, Daphne's station. On the other side were several tables groaning under the weight of monitors, here the data feeds from all the search teams were received. At the heart of it all was a raised platform where Shaggy sat overseeing all the activities. Things started to make sense to Daphne now she could see how all the various pieces fitted together.

"And I will help too," Shaggy and Daphne turned to see Sonia standing at the entrance; She was wearing a long cape which completely covered her.

"OK but how?" said Shaggy.

Sonia threw the cape back, underneath she was wearing soft leather armour with a light chain-mail vest on top, a cross of gold hung from a chain round her neck, the hilt of a broadsword peeked out over her shoulder.

_Why am I not surprised_ thought Daphne.

Behind her a CoolBall refrigerated delivery van and a cryogenics truck carrying liquefied gas arrived under police escort and parked next to the Team Ascot tent. Nearby the first TV news van arrived, aligned its satellite dish and began to transmit.

Velma sat in the silence and semi-darkness and wept angrily, she'd never felt so alone, the ultimate wallflower. _Not like it's an uncommon feeling_, she pictured her yearbook entry 'Velma Dinkley voted the least loved or noticed person in school' that's if anyone noticed her enough to put it in. The more upset she got, the angrier she became, she kept thinking thoughts that made her angry, she knew there would be a price to pay later, but for now she needed all the anger she could muster.

Shaggy sat back in his chair; Eric stood next to him and spoke into a microphone.

"All teams give a go no-go on this, comms?"

"Go," said Daphne.

"First wave?"

"Go."

"Second wave?"

"Go."

The butterflies in Daphne's stomach grew as each team reported in, finally all was ready, Eric nodded at Shaggy. He leant forward; the light from his monitor under lit his face.

"It's Showtime."


	13. Cry Zoinks for Velma Coolsville & Scooby

**Cry Zoinks! For Velma, Coolsville and Saint Scooby!**

A raised platform had been erected next to the front of the store. The time had come, the word had gone out and everybody congregated in front of the platform. Mr & Mrs Dinkley and Eric took their seats on the platform. A few TV news crews had set up their cameras while the local media was there in force. Shaggy stood up to address the 'troops', the crowd hushed, the only sound was of flags fluttering in the breeze, he raised his right hand and made the sign "live long and prosper," he said quietly, he cleared his throat preparing to speak. Close to the front Daphne stood with the rest of the command staff. Both she and Fred had been offered seats in the platform but had declined preferring to take their place with their respective teams. Daphne took out her phone and started to film; she didn't know what was going to happen but knew it would be good.

"Emm, err, like hi there friends, C&C players and general Coolsville people." There was some polite applause and cheering, he motioned for silence and the crowd hushed.

"My mom kept nagging me that I shouldn't stand up here as like the Icktharians might turn up and the platform also looks a bit rickety but I know things are cool being with you all, even those holding pointy-hitty things. No, for once I'm not going to be scared, let the Ickthatians be scared. Today I will not hide in the cupboard or Herb's Pizza Palace for today I will stand with you on the field of battle. And Fred, Daph the 'today' bit just then is emmm like a limited time offer and just for today, not tomorrow. And like just for Velma, that's why we're doing this."

Daphne kept filming, ignoring the tear that crept down her cheek. They were witnessing the magical moment when a boy began to turn into a man. They were seeing a glimpse of the man Shaggy could become, or would become with the help of a certain petite auburn-haired woman by his side. Daphne also knew it was important to get this for Velma; it would help her in the dark times that would follow.

"Like I know I don't have much of a body, I mean Daph's stronger than me but man inside I have like the heart and stomach of a, emm, like a big strong dude, a big strong dude who chases ghost fish even. It is majorly uncool what has happened, to threaten our CoolBalls and Dunkers, to take Velma from me, emm I mean us; we say that is totally bogus! So like go and do what needs to be done to preserve our food and return Velma to me. The Scooby Snacks are on me!"

There was a cheer from the crowd, Shaggy held up his hands and the crowd quietened once more.

"Fourscore and a bit more years ago the Dinkley family gave us the CoolBall, and then the dunkers, and then Velma." Shaggy pointed at the FlatterPack store "Now go find Velma."

A single horn sounded, with assorted cries of 'Ka'plah!' 'for Elvendar!' 'by Thorlin's hammer, revenge!' the first wave of search teams departed as everyone else headed for their station.

Unbeknownst to the search teams Velma had embarked on an DIY rescue plan of her own. With a vigorous shake of the head she'd removed the hood. Squinting she could see that the pipe she was secured to approximated a ¬ shape with the horizontal part being around shoulder height. All she had to do was to get her hands onto the horizontal part of the pipe then she could walk off it. Her hands being taped-up now worked to her advantage, protecting her skin from the rusty pipe, giving her more grip and allowing her to apply more force than would otherwise be possible as she worked herself up the pipe.

Being next to so much nerd was bringing Daphne out in hives, but she wished she was going with them. As they headed for the command tent Daphne wheeled herself up to Shaggy.

"Did they need to scream like that?"

"No self-respecting Dwarf or Klingon would go into battle without screaming, it's like making a pizza without cheese, it just isn't right. Speaking of which…" Shaggy reached into his pocket and pulled out a slice of pizza which he began to eat.

"Want some Daph?"

"No thanks, pocket lint has never been one of my favorite toppings."

The command tent was organised chaos as the team leaders took up their positions and the plotting staff started to move pieces around the map table. Daphne waved at Fred as he entered the Command test he smiled and gave the best wave he could in reply. It took a second for Daphne to notice that his signature Ascot was missing.

After several failed attempts Velma finally managed to get the chain of the handcuffs over the flange at the bend of the pipe and onto the part which ran parallel to the ground. For the next part she needed to stand so dropped her feet onto the ground. Velma growled and bit down hard on her gag as her shoulders were all but wrenched from their sockets. She was standing on her feet, bent down at the waist with her arms pulled up above her head. She had now committed herself, the only way was forward. She proceeded to shuffle and drag her hands as she went, it would take longer but if she hopped and lost her balance she could do herself serious injury and end up stuck there. Velma now understood all to clearly why this position used to be used by the likes of the Inquisition and witch trials to elicit 'confessions'.

A door burst open, Stormtroopers rushed in taking up covering positions second before a party of Klingon officers armed with bat'leths entered. The leader slung his bat'leth over his shoulder, took out a tablet computer and called up some images. He pointed at a pipe in one corner. The Stormtroopers advanced, weapons at the ready, there was movement in one corner, simultaneously they opened fire. A startled mouse retreated under a hail of Nerf darts. The Klingons compared the room with reference images on the tablet.

"Purple Command this is Team Arrow Storm."

"Go ahead Arrow Storm." Daphne's voice crackled over the radio.

"We've located where the ransom video was made, sending tri-coder images now." The leader held up the tablet and began to send video images.

Word came in from another team, an entrance to the sub-basements had been found and secured. The corridors were held by Elven archers while the Dwarves had established a bridgehead at the lower level.

Daphne spoke into her microphone "Good work, I mean ka'plah! All first-wave teams not, I repeat, not holding the bridgehead, fall back by squads to the forward rendezvous point to pick-up second-wave reinforcements, Techmarines prepare for tactical insertion of the rescuebots into the bridgehead."

_There, that sounded alright I think, _thought Daphne as she swivelled round in her chair_ now I wonder what it all meant_.

"I cast a +3 boot of door opening!" the wizard waved his wand just as the Ranger kicked the locked door open. They entered the room then stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of a figure securely bound to a floor to ceiling pipe.

Excited chatter sprung up the over the communication nets, someone had been found. Several teams headed over to secure the area and paramedics were sent in, escorted by real police officers. This wasn't a game anymore, this was a crime scene. It took Daphne a bit of shouting to calm people down to get the facts out. It wasn't Velma but Daphne didn't need to know what language Sonja was speaking to know they had found her brother. Daphne whispered a silent thanks you when she heard that Rudi had found evidence that Velma was still there. The warm mattress with orange fibres on was just the tonic she needed. Teams pressed on into the deeper levels with renewed vigour.

"But what if they can't find her?" said Daphne, echoing the fears of many.

"Already got that covered," said Eric swivelling round on his chair to face Daphne "Watch this."

The monitor showed the CoolBall factory alight, fire crews battling to control the blaze "A mixture of CGI, stock footage of fires and footage of the Coolsville fire department in action, we've working on some effects to use on the real building just in case they decide to take a look."

Velma collapsed to the floor breathing hard and dripping with sweat, her shoulders and arms were screaming in pain, but she was free, well freeish. _A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step or in my case a few excruciatingly painful ones._ The anger she had built up had done its job, now it was up to her native fight-or-flight response to do the rest. She fought off the urge to curl up in a ball and rest, she knew she had to keep moving. It took a bit of effort but she was able to use the hole in her gag to pick up and manipulate her glasses to get them into a suitable position that she could put them on. That done she shuffled on her knees to the nearest wall, pushed herself into a standing position then hobbled out of the room as fast as she safely could dragging the hood with her to leave no clues that she has escaped.

The rescuebots moved steadily through the level, filling in the gaps in what they knew about the layout. Having scouted one level they prepared to move to the next. One rescuebot went to the stairwell and lowered a long strand of metal. This was the aerial which allowed the teams to control the robots as they moved to lower levels. Communications established the two remaining rescuebots worked their way down the stairs.

Velma carefully made her way through the basement. All was going well, the odd slip and stumble aside, until she heard some all to familiar voices coming closer, the voices of her captors. She quickly shuffled back the way she'd came to where there was a dark alcove and crouched down in the furthest corner. She turned her head to one side and down slightly to reduce the chance of light reflecting off her glassing giving her position away. Her eyes widened as the fish creatures she'd seen on CCTV footage at the factory walk past but the voices were of two of her captors. They didn't seem to be looking for her; they were acting like they were walking back from the shops.

It didn't take a genius to work out that avoiding being caught was a good idea and a game of Icktharians and Dinkley ensued. Velma had the advantage that her captors didn't know she'd escaped; she assumed that anyone she encountered, fish creature of person, would be bad news for her. She also concluded that the fish creature and her captors were one and the same but didn't know why. After a bit of thought she came up with a plan. She'd wait; work out the direction the fish creatures were heading in then head in the opposite as quietly as possible. The easiest approach turned out to be was to let them do the work; Velma simply hid behind some industrial detritus and let the creatures pass. The hood was deposited in one suitably dark corner; Velma hoped to never see it again.

Velma congratulated herself on being a genius when she arrived at a set of steps. One set headed down into darkness, a refuge of last resort, the other headed up. She sat down up the upward heading stairs and began to climb the stairs as best she could by pushing up with her feet and moving her backside up as she did. Not the most elegant but the safest and her skirt was ruined in any case.

She was disappointed to find there are no more stairs heading up but there was a faded 'Fire Exit' stencilled on the opposite wall with an arrow underneath so she headed in that direction down a corridor. She was part way down when she heard a noise. Something was heading her way, a faint whirring noise was getting closer Velma flattened herself against the wall, there was no suitable place to hide. There was light at a low level to the floor. The sound stopped directly in front of her. Velma wondered why it was dark then realised she'd closed her eyes. She mustered all of her courage, opened her eyes and looked down. It wasn't a human, it wasn't a walking fish; it was a wheeled robot made out of bright yellow plastic building blocks. Velma got the strong impression it was staring at her.

"We have contact!" shouted the Team Yellow robot operator.

"Plot it!" said Daphne. An orange figure was moved into position on the plotting table.

"All teams dunker say again dunker." Daphne relayed the codeword that indicated Velma had been found then relayed her position. The teams hurried to get into position to cover her extraction.

"Send the message," said Shaggy.

Velma stared as the robot did an about turn. At the back was a large LED display, she had to do a double take as a message scrolled across it a few times 'follow the yellow brick robot.'

"Use escape pattern Alpha-6," said the duty mathematician starting a stopwatch.

The robot turned around and headed off slowly, turning after a few feet to see if Velma was following. Not knowing what else to do Velma hopped off after it.

The Icktharians returned to the room where Velma had escaped from feeling rather pleased with themselves. They were so busy congratulating each other that it took some time for one of them to notice Velma wasn't there.

"Where is she?"

One checked their watch "Bathroom break, whoever took her will bring her back soon."

This seemed a sensible explanation but something didn't add up, literally.

"But, we're all here!" said the first after a brief head-count.

This caused some commotion but again the leader had an explanation.

"I'm not sure this is the right room, this place is a bit of a maze and we've not been down here often."

This was also accepted so they all duly went out of the room to find the right room. Ten minutes later they were back where they started. Finally it dawned on them that they were all in the right room and that the impossible had happened Velma had escaped.

"Right don't panic wherever she's got to she won't have gone far. Besides she can't even see where she's going. I expected she's wandering around in circles or hiding somewhere."

"This may not be the best time to mention it but I'm not sure if I did the hood up properly."

"What!"

"Well if you hadn't rushed me it would be all OK, even without the hood she can't move fast and doesn't know her way around."

"Good point, let's get going, and hurry!"

In the command tent all eyes were trained on a monitor, the view was from the yellow rescuebot at it climbed a stairwell. When it got to the top it zoomed off for a few feet then turned to provide a view of the opening. The duty mathematician was looking at clock "Velma ETA in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… bingo."

"Zoinks, there's Velma!" They watched as Velma shuffled up the last remaining steps on her backside, she was soon joined by an identical red coloured robot. Velma paused for a few seconds to catch her breath the scooted to a wall, pushed herself up and resumed hopping after the robot. Shaggy leapt out of his chair, grabbed his radio and set in motion the next phase of the operation "send in the Fredinator!" That done he headed out of the room, it was time to get hands-on. He exchanged salutes with Scooby on the way "Field Marshal Doo, you have the con."

One of the acoustic operators leant forward, pressed their headphones into their ears and stared at the waterfall display.

"Transients! Transients! Fishes in the basement! Icktharians on the level below, moving rapidly."

Everyone was focused on the tactical display or the plotting table. The Ickyharians were rapidly closing in on Velma. The yellow rescuebot increased its speed trying to hurry Velma along. The red rescue bot went behind and drove in reverse to give a rear view. If necessary it would try to lead the Icktharian away.

"They're coming in too fast," whispered Eric, Velma was close, but was hse close enough.

The Team Ascot operator cleared her throat then spoke into her microphone "Now in intercept position, master arm is on, Fredinator is hot; repeat Fredinator is hot." _He sure is _Daphne came over all tingly as she looked at Fred. Fred's face shone with pride, he was finally taking part. Fred had always felt it was his duty to look after the girls, both in school and in mystery solving, whether they liked it or not.

Velma backed into a corner as the red and yellow bots circled in front of her as protectively as something made out of children's building blocks could do. A few feet away was a dark corridor, she knew she'd never make it in time and would soon be overtaken even if she did, it was all over, she'd tried her best now she'd have to deal with the consequences. The Icktharians paused; the closest one took a step towards her. They all jumped slightly as a clipped metallic voice emerged from the corridor "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

(A/N Shaggy's speech is based on that reported to have been given by Queen Elizabeth I to the army at Tilbury on the eve of the arrival of the Spanish Armada).


	14. Special Weapon Frederick

With the whirring noise of powerful electric motors accompanied by a rumbling noise the source of the voice rolled out of the darkness of the corridor and confronted the Icktharians. Two oil drums coupled together each sitting on top of a set of triangular tracks jerked to halt when it was most of the way out of the corridor. The first drum had a metal locker lying lengthways on top with the locker protruding out in front. The drums were articulated allowing some independent movement, it manoeuvred sightly to point the locker directly at the Icktharians. The second drum was jacketed in some kind of insulation. Tubes from second drum ran to the locker and between the two bins. Lights, cameras and aerials protruded from various places finished off the ensemble. Velma's heart skipped a beat when she saw a familiar Ascot tied to one of the camera stalks. It skipped several more beats when she realised there was the business-end of a large calibre Gatlin gun poking out from the front of the locker. A dark red viscous fluid slowly dripped from the bottom barrel onto the floor. The Icktharians were transfixed by the weapon; Velma saw her chance and shuffled for the corridor.

"It's just a toy like the others," said one of the Icktharians pointing at the red and yellow rescue robots "don't let her get away."

By now Velma was right next to the mouth of the corridor, there was just enough room for her to squeeze through while her pursuers would be stuck trying to get past the robot. Her heart sank when she sensed a presence in the corridor just behind the robot.

"MMMMMH!" she squealed in terror as a hands reached round and pulled her into the darkness where she was immediately slung over the unknown persons shoulder.

"Like say hello to the Fredinator, our fully armed and operational CoolBall cannon!" Shaggy turned tail and ran down the corridor while the Fredinator slowly reversed back following him further blocking the corridor. The gun spun up and began firing meatballs at any Icktharian who tried to follow. The meatballs had been frozen in liquid nitrogen and were as hard as iron.

"Like we gotta move, the Fredinator has only got so much ammo," said Shaggy to Velma's backside. He didn't look; he needed to focus on running.

Scooby walked around the command test, swagger stick under his arm, studying the monitors and the map table to assess the situation; he pointed at a particular location on the map table with his swagger stick and nodded at Daphne.

_Hope we've saved the best till last…_ "First Squad, deploy!" she said into her microphone. It was time for them to go on the offensive.

Shaggy ran up a set of stairs and down a corridor, at the end was a T junction and a pair of Stormtroopers, one of whom was an officer.

"This way." The officer pointed down one of the corridors, Shaggy went that way then the Stromtroopers followed them periodically checking that they weren't being followed. Half way down the corridor was a door guarded by an Elf and a Klingon, they opened it and Shaggy ran inside followed by the Elf, Klingon and the two Stormtroopers. This happened to be the room where Velma had been held for so long but she didn't recognize it, she was too busy staring at the groups of Klingons and Dwarves who filled the room.

"Run interference, plan two," the Stromtrooper officer commanded.

The Klingon and Dwarves ran out the room yelling battle cries.

_Now I know I'm __not __dreaming_ thought Velma,_ I'm going slightly mad_.

Shaggy gently lowered Velma onto the mattress; quickly he removed her gag and handcuffs – he'd come equipped with a small kit of tools for such a purpose. Before he could remove the tape from her hands she almost crushed the life out of him, desperate to know if he was real and not some hallucination.

"Shaggy!" Velma whisper-shouted, holding onto him for dear life afraid if she let go she would find it was a dream again.

"Need… to… breathe…"

"Sorry, just can't let go," Shaggy managed to prise her away long enough to free her hands then helped Velma to her feet and headed for the door while Velma gripped his hand like a vice as she ran next to him.

"Like one more level then we're out of here."

Shaggy glanced behind her and caught sight of the Ickharians. They split up, one continued to pursue them the others went a different route _good_ he thought, things were going to plan.

Final set of stairs was in a little-used large storeroom, folded up tables were in one corner with the odd chair and filing cabinet dotted around the place. The room was mostly dark, most of the light coming from the stairwell. There were two entrances to the room from this floor, one opposite the stairs the other perpendicular, and closer, to them. The first group of Icktharians arrived at the entrance closer to the stairs just before Shaggy and Velma arrived through the one opposite. The Icktahrians were close enough to make the chance of both of them making the stairs slim. Shaggy pulled Velma to the far wall just as their pursuers arrived in the room. He moved in front of Velma as the Icktharians slowly approached. Velma adjusted her position and clenched her fists, if there was fighting to be done she was ready with her own fists of fury.

"You will both suffer. You will pay for the insult to our traditions." The closest Icktharain reached out menacingly.

"I don't think so." Sonja emerged from the shadows and stood in front of the Icktharians. She reached over her shoulder and drew her broadsword. Suddenly Icktharians the were surrounded; Elven archers appeared on their flanks rapidly followed by others. Dwarves with double-headed battle axes, Rangers and fighters with swords and shields, a tall straggly mage in robes with the word 'wizzard' written on his pointy hat carry a small dragon under his arm... With the Icktharians distracted Shaggy quietly lead Velma away, their path being quickly hidden by a wall of Wookies.

The Icktharians had been so focussed on recapturing Velma they hadn't notice they were surrounded by the members of First Squad; a hand-picked group of Elves, Dwarves, Klingons, Stromtroopers and all manner of characters, with Sonia Nordskov at the front. The exits back to the lower levels were being blocked off by the first and second wave search teams as the Icktharins had passed by.

"Huh, that fake sword doesn't frighten us!"

Sonia swung the sword at a nearby wooden chair; the chair was smashed to smithereens.

"This sword is an exact replica of one used in the battle of Visby in 1361 where it cleaved a man from neck to groin, I know I got an A+ in history. Now the question you have to ask yourself is that even though this sword doesn't have a cutting edge on it do you feel that despite the superior metallurgical technology used in its construction the probability of it doing the same to you is sufficiently low that you are willing to find out?"

The Icktharians turned to head the way they had come, a tall figure in a grey-trimmed white robe with slicked-back hair blocked their path; he was wearing wooden block sandals while a long curved sword case hung from his belt, a two-handed grip emerged from the top. His face was impassive, without emotion. He spoke in clear measured tones.

"I understand you are interested in traditions, let me tell you of another, it is tradition that once a katana has been drawn from its case then blood must be shed." His hand went to his sword; the archers on their flanks drew their bows hard against their cheeks, the mage held the dragon like a rifle and sighted the Icktharians between the ears of the dragon, its stomach gave an ominous rumble, the others tightened the grip on their weapons. "The only question to be resolved is whose?"


	15. Green Lithium

Shaggy helped Velma up the stairs and into the store. All the way up the stairs and either side of the aisles stood people, some she knew, most she didn't but all were in some form of fantasy or science-fiction costume. All stood to attention as they walked past, it was like a guard of honour for them. Police officers waited at the top of the stairs ready to head down as soon as they were up. If all that was hard for Velma to take in there was the crowd outside.

"All hail the Dinkley bearer!" they cried as Shaggy emerged with Velma, the crowd cheered as she was swallowed up into her parent's arms.

"Who, who, what, all these people? What the hell is going on here!?" said Velma as she looked around at the scene in the car park. After so many days in near silence and isolation the noise and the crowd was disorientating and a little frightening.

"Well it's a bit hard to explain but…" her father began.

His explanation got no further as it was drowned out by the sound of booing as the Icktharians were brought of the store by the police. Because of the nature of the crime the local FBI was there as well as representative from Alaska Fish and Game just in case they were real fish and the State Department just in case they were real fish people. Velma began to settle down slightly, finally there was some familiar territory she could relate to. As was customary for this kind of crime none of the criminals had been unmasked. They were herded together and made to sit down. A few police officers, Fred, Daphne and Shaggy walked up to the Icktharians, each took hold of a head, an FBI agent nodded and they all pulled in unison.

"And it's…" the heads of the costumes came off "…people we don't know," said Shaggy, Fred and Daphne simultaneously. Scooby didn't care who they were, they'd hurt Velma and upset Shaggy was all he needed to know so growled angrily at them.

"Not by sight, I can recognise their voices quite easily," said Velma standing next to Shaggy who took hold of her hand.

"We know them," said Sonia and Rudi.

"So do I," Mr Dinkley walked up and put his hands on Velma's shoulders.

"Anybody else know them?" whispered Fred.

"Hell's bell's and buckets of blood, it's some of the trade delegation!" said the mayor.

"Yes you're right, I recognise him from a meeting," the voice belonged to Fred and Velma's dentist, she sheathed her sword, glowering at the one she recognised.

"One of them did say I needed a filling," said Velma.

"Well that filling is on me," said her dentist.

"Yay," said the DInkley's together though Velma spoke with less enthusiasm than her parents.

"Yes, I believe I do as well," Daphne turned to see her boss, dressed as a mage walk over to Mr Dinkley "I understand now why you didn't want to discuss co-operation on that school science and engineering project idea my team had."

"Yes, but now we can," said Mr Dinkley squeezing Velma's shoulders _another job_ she thought.

As the crooks were loaded onto a police van the assorted musicians start playing and people began to dance as a party atmosphere settled on the crowd. Flags were tossed into the air and the blood wine was already flowing amongst the Klingons.

"But, but, I, but..." for once Velma was lost for words, she stared at the impromptu carnival trying, and failing, to comprehend what was going on.

"Here, this should help explain things," Daphne handed Velma her phone with a video ready to play.

"But why? This must be about as mad as any scheme you kids have foiled, gets," said the Mayor as the police van left under escort.

"By framing the Nordskov's for kidnaping Velma they could ruin their business then by forcing the Dinkleys to close down they could move into both the Coolsville market and that vacated by the Nordskov family," said Fred.

"But it all went wrong when we proved that the Nordskov's weren't involved and when Rudi found that the way into their lair," said Daphne.

"No Daph, it all went wrong for them when they picked on the wrong man," said Velma quietly, transfixed by the film she was watching on the phone.

"We helped too…" began Fred but was silenced by Daphne.

"Not now Freddie," said Daphne prodding Fred with her crutch and leading him away.

Velma continued to watch the films Daphne had taken as Shaggy walked her to the Mystery Machine while her parents followed at a discreet distance behind.

"Didn't think people would do this for me, I'm not lov…" Velma said quietly, the aftereffect of thinking those thoughts earlier was now an emotional hangover that would leave her depressed for days. That mixed with enormity her escape, near recapture, rescue, the scene in the car park and what she'd just seen on the films was proving too much for her to process.

"Don't you get it?" said Shaggy tenderly as he took her hands in his.

"I, I don't know." He reached out and gently brushed her hair away from her face.

"Like Velma, you _are_ loved," Shaggy looked down, she looked into his eyes and finally understood, she was indeed loved.


End file.
